Sears to close 100 to 120 Kmart, Sears stores

[jaxx]

Sears to close 100 to 120 Kmart, Sears stores
Retailer blames terrible holiday season, especially for big-ticket items

updated 1 hour 22 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Sears Holdings Corp. plans to close between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores after poor sales during the holidays, the most crucial time of year for retailers.

The closings are the latest and most visible in a long series of moves to try to fix a retailer that has struggled with falling sales and shabby stores.

<..> The company's revenue at stores open at least a year fell 5.2 percent to date for the quarter at both Sears and Kmart, the company said Tuesday. That includes the critical holiday shopping period.

Sears Holdings said the declining sales, ongoing pressure on profit margins and rising expenses pulled its adjusted earnings lower. The company predicts fourth-quarter adjusted earnings will be less than half the $933 million it reporter for the same quarter last year.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45795148/ns/...ss-retail/

I'm wondering if that will hit here. We have Sears and Kmart both at the dead mall, and both are uninspired as to keeping up with the competition. I'm not a Walmart shopper and do go to Kmart and Sears, but it doesn't look good for our stores.

[azmouse]

When Mervyn's closed here a few years ago, Sears took over their store at a local mall. No idea why because it's mostly teens that shop the mall and the vast majority of the stores there are aimed at teens.
The merchandise at Sears is bad and the clothing is crappy. I won't be surprised if that is among the stores that will close around here.

[JuniperLea]

(12-27-2011 01:58 PM)azmouse Wrote:  When Mervyn's closed here a few years ago, Sears took over their store at a local mall. No idea why because it's mostly teens that shop the mall and the vast majority of the stores there are aimed at teens.
The merchandise at Sears is bad and the clothing is crappy. I won't be surprised if that is among the stores that will close around here.

That's how the free market works, right? It never ceases to amaze me how the RW can cry about this company or that failing, but they never use their own mantra about the free market... they just use it to badmouth Obama... Sears cannot compete because their product sucks. It used to be that Sears was a trusted name. No longer. If I want to buy cheap crap that falls apart after two washings, I'll buy from Old Navy!

[JuniperLea]

ok... weirdness in double posting!

[azmouse]

(12-27-2011 05:10 PM)JuniperLea Wrote:  

(12-27-2011 01:58 PM)azmouse Wrote:  When Mervyn's closed here a few years ago, Sears took over their store at a local mall. No idea why because it's mostly teens that shop the mall and the vast majority of the stores there are aimed at teens.
The merchandise at Sears is bad and the clothing is crappy. I won't be surprised if that is among the stores that will close around here.

That's how the free market works, right? It never ceases to amaze me how the RW can cry about this company or that failing, but they never use their own mantra about the free market... they just use it to badmouth Obama... Sears cannot compete because their product sucks. It used to be that Sears was a trusted name. No longer. If I want to buy cheap crap that falls apart after two washings, I'll buy from Old Navy!

About 15 years ago, Sears realized their stores were outdated and did a big makeover. They began to realize they couldn't sell ladies underwear on the same type of shelves that were used to sell tools. I remember them saying something like that as the reason why Sears wasn't thriving back then.
I was living in Tucson at the time and I remember shopping at a newly remodeled store that was wonderful. The clothing was nice, not fancy but they had things women want to wear. They improved the displays, and made shopping there a pleasant experience.
Seems like they fell back into their old patterns again after that because I wouldn't buy clothing there to give away to charity. And what little merchandise the store carries is shabby and badly displayed. I'll happily take my dollars elsewhere.

You're right. This is how the market works. Sell a good product at a good price and people are willing to show up to shop. Show disdain for your customers with lousy goods and they'll go elsewhere.

[RoyGBiv]

As much as I hate to see the number of people this will negatively impact due to lost jobs, Sears runs an outdated business model and was bound to suffer this eventually. There was a time when Sears led the market and pulled everyone else along with it. Those days are long gone, but they still act as though time stopped in the 70s.

[JuniperLea]

(12-27-2011 06:01 PM)RoyGBiv Wrote:  As much as I hate to see the number of people this will negatively impact due to lost jobs, Sears runs an outdated business model and was bound to suffer this eventually. There was a time when Sears led the market and pulled everyone else along with it. Those days are long gone, but they still act as though time stopped in the 70s.

My kids have the ol' Sears/JC Higgins green canvas tent we camped in when they were babies... that sucker must be over 40 years old. My father-in-law bought it when my ex-husband was a kid. We used it for our kids, and they are using it now as adults. We set it up in the back yard, swept it out and off, rinsed it out and off, and let it dry in the sun. I took a heavy needle and thread to a couple of spots where zippers were pulling loose, but other than that, it's perfect. I'm willing to bet there will be no tents bought anywhere in 2011 that will be fit for use in 2051.

We're doomed.

[Dimwitted Fool]

60% of Sears Holdings stock and has presided over the past 18 months of declining earnings.

An NPR piece earlier today confirmed my observation that he ignored the desperate need for store makeovers-- in fact moving all available cash into buying back stock to create an artificial shortage to boost the stock price.

There's a K-Mart a few miles down the road and the store help tries to help and the prices are better then the Wal-Mart further down the road. Unfortunately, the store looks like shit with lousy displays, barely buffed tile floors, crappy fluorescent lighting and the occasionally empty shelf and hole in the ceiling-- looking more like a dollar store that's going broke. The Wal-Mart was was recently updated to acceptable and the Target even further down the road is as comfy as a French whorehouse by comparison. They all tend to sell shit, but the K-Mart shit holds up better if only they could get around to selling some of it.

Lampert claims a background in retail, having run Auto Zone, but, like the rest of the money guys who tried, he really doesn't know how to run a store.

(IT'S THE CUSTOMERS, STUPID!)

[JuniperLea]

(12-27-2011 07:40 PM)Dimwitted Fool Wrote:  60% of Sears Holdings stock and has presided over the past 18 months of declining earnings.

An NPR piece earlier today confirmed my observation that he ignored the desperate need for store makeovers-- in fact moving all available cash into buying back stock to create an artificial shortage to boost the stock price.

There's a K-Mart a few miles down the road and the store help tries to help and the prices are better then the Wal-Mart further down the road. Unfortunately, the store looks like shit with lousy displays, barely buffed tile floors, crappy fluorescent lighting and the occasionally empty shelf and hole in the ceiling-- looking more like a dollar store that's going broke. The Wal-Mart was was recently updated to acceptable and the Target even further down the road is as comfy as a French whorehouse by comparison. They all tend to sell shit, but the K-Mart shit holds up better if only they could get around to selling some of it.

Lampert claims a background in retail, having run Auto Zone, but, like the rest of the money guys who tried, he really doesn't know how to run a store.

(IT'S THE CUSTOMERS, STUPID!)

It's not about selling a great product in order to make a profit, it's the CEO and CFO and CIOs ability to manipulate the books that is counted on to make profit now. That is the bottom line of how doomed we are.

[OptimistesMaddie]

there will be.

It was a bad idea for Sears to buy KMart.....

[sandnsea]

I went to a KMart during their bankruptcy, before Sears bought them. That's about the time they were putting soldiers in easter baskets. The clothing aisles were like a line designed by Britney Spears. It was just terrible. There may be a market for that somewhere int he country, but not Eugene Oregon. I have no idea what Sears sells or where a store even is around here. It's sad that the original mail marketer didn't figure out how to move online. They may well have lousy products, but they have an even worse marketing agency. I don't think closing stores is going to help if they don't change their branding and sales strategy.

[JuniperLea]

(12-28-2011 02:57 AM)sandnsea Wrote:  I went to a KMart during their bankruptcy, before Sears bought them. That's about the time they were putting soldiers in easter baskets. The clothing aisles were like a line designed by Britney Spears. It was just terrible. There may be a market for that somewhere int he country, but not Eugene Oregon. I have no idea what Sears sells or where a store even is around here. It's sad that the original mail marketer didn't figure out how to move online. They may well have lousy products, but they have an even worse marketing agency. I don't think closing stores is going to help if they don't change their branding and sales strategy.

They were cutting edge when it came to catalogs! Too bad they didn't take that same spirit online.

[jaxx]

Closings Announced in Dec. 27, 2011 Sears Holdings

Update

This list represents 79 of the 100 to 120 store closings that were announced in the December 27, 2011 Sears Holdings press release.
Additional updates will be posted to http://www.searsmedia.com as they become available.
Employment varies by store and format and at this time we cannot provide the total number of impacted associates.

http://media.nbcwashington.com/documents..._close.pdf

So far ours looks to be ok.