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You nailed that (no pun intended). Fixing things yourself is becoming a lost art compared to previous generations.
We still fix things. Fixed my laptop several times and fixed an old desk. My dads a carpenter and a handyman so guess it rubbed off. Even helped a group of friends put a recording studio together.
Going to the mall to rummage around for crap these days to me is like popping a CD into the CD player to listen to music...horribly passe and just not the way I do it anymore.
I prefer CDs and I miss record stores. Then again, I'm listening to Spotify as I type this.
People whining and crying about jobs.. yet, cheer at the troubles of Sears..... unaware that its people who are loosing jobs.
These are part of why we see so many who claim they were left behind, cheering at some of the reasons why they were left behind and why they will fall further behind. keep cheering... at more industry failure..... while they hope Trump is going to give them something...
Yeah they do this a lit about businesses that spurned them. I haven't been but there are companies I agree should contract because of employees and managers who don't want to take accountability. This is nothing new with me because I have posted about a lack of accountability in the past over various C D forums and sub-forums.
I would like to get my hands on the last copy of the Sears & Roebuck Christmas catalog. I don't know when they stopped printing and sending it out, but it sure was a good read for the penniless child that was me in the 50's.
I learned to dream, I think. Later, I learned to plan. I'm retired now.
You echo the thoughts of most kids in the 50's..........
Sears should have been so scared by Wal-Mart long ago that it would have gone on to be the Target of today. Sears probably saw Wal-Mart as toobeneath it to worry about.
Long time fan of Sears. It will be sad to see them go but the writing was on the wall.
I did not understand the merger with Kmart. I knew when they did that, they were done. Sears "used" to cater to middle class people that wanted high quality tools and appliances and when they started losing ground to big box home improvement stores and online shopping, they just lost their way. They started selling crappy clothing made half their mall stores look like Kmarts and then when they merged with Kmart to start selling craftsman and whirlpool in Kmarts it was over. That really just devalued the entire Sears brand.
Kmart is a totally different demographic than what Sears used to cater to. Few people that shop at Kmart even own their own home (this is a published fact). So why would they be interested in buying craftsman tools or major appliances? Especially when there are much cheaper options at Home Depot and Walmart for those that do need such items.
Then over the years, Sears stores began to look more and more like trashy Kmarts. They lost their customer service too. It takes 20 minutes to go into a Sears and purchase a single item because their checkout system is so archaic.
Sears probably would have made it if they stayed away from clothing and electronics and expanded their tools, outdoor tools, patios sets etc and just regained their image as a higher quality option to the big box home improvement stores. People still want to touch and feel tools, treadmills, lawn mowers, snow blowers, pool tables etc before they buy them. Sears really dropped the ball. They could have done better getting online sales going and just stayed a destination tool,recreation,fitness equipment store.
Status:
"Let this year be over..."
(set 16 days ago)
Location: Where my bills arrive
19,219 posts, read 17,075,134 times
Reputation: 15537
Quote:
Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie
Sears should have been so scared by Wal-Mart long ago that it would have gone on to be the Target of today. Sears probably saw Wal-Mart as toobeneath it to worry about.
Today its Wal-Mart but there has always been some type of discount chain that could potentially be competition to Sears. I think their failure was to update their business model continuing to operate as if it was the 1950's; they also own their mall sites which has become an albatross as brick and mortar malls are falling by the wayside.
I don't care. Even if Sears, Radio Shack, and all the good old electronics surplus stores from back in the day are closed, I'm still gonna fix all my own stuff anyway.
Where are you? If near San Diego there are two good surplus stores left.
Murphys in El Cajon
K-surplus in National City
Gateway Electronics closed 15 years ago. Loved that place and the staff.
Actually, Toys R' Us got Bained. Bain acquires a company, immediately loads it up with as much debt as they can, converts every conceivable asset to cash and then issues some juicy dividends to the stockholders (also Bain). The company may stagger on from this bloodletting and recover to be harvested again, or it may fail. Not a big difference to Bain, who got their profits already.
Capitalism, ain't it great?
Seriously, read up on Lampert. It is absolutely fascinating what he's pulling off.
Fascinating.... hmm... hopefully something the SEC can jail him for.
In the future when things get more desperate, maybe some people from an outfit like anonymous can make him lose sleep with suggestions of scaling his estate walls in the dead of night.... one guy pockets hundreds of millions while putting thousands out of work. Criminal or not we should just let him skip off into the sunset?
I think not. Maybe organize a billboard campaign where he lives.
"Eddie Lampert you are a thief and a scoundrel. All over America people know what you did and what kind of vile human you are. We pray for your soul, not to save it but to ensure judgement day sends it to the depths of hell where it belongs."
At the very least have someone put itching powder in his undershorts.
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