Will anyone miss Sears? (credit cards, prices, shops, best)

[Uconn97]

Towards the end I was only really shopping there for Lands End stuff. I personally think they started to go downhill more so in the late 80's, early 90's, but perhaps that depends on where people are located.

[SUPbud]

Nah, they broke my heart when they closed KMart and Circuit City. No tears left for Sears.

[Ted Bear]

There are some stores that had a lock on the market...Sears, and their catalogues, for one. Radio shack--how could the world be exploding with electronics and they go bust? Motorola for another...they dominated wireless communication, and now what?

It blows my mind how these dominant brands in their niche could watch it ALL slip away and run their businesses into the ground. Like Jack Welch did to GE, management just took all they could get and let the businesses go to hell.

Wouldn't have any interest in trying to find any of these stores....and they wouldn't have anything i couldn't buy several other places. Like Amazon for starters.

The only question i have is where do i take my Craftsman products back for their lifetime warranty?

[NYCresident2014]

I've been to Sears maybe once a year or two over the past decade. Every time I walk in there it's so depressing; it's like they just gave up. Floors filthy, shelves empty, poor lighting. You just don't want to spend any more time than you need to when you're in there.

I don't get it- these aren't expensive problems to fix. Anyway, I'll be glad when they are gone; they are worth more as the handful of brands they have (i.e. Craftsman) which would do better in the hands of retailers that care.

[City Guy997S]

A relative (through marriage) was the vice president of Sears back in the 60's. He died about the same time the stores went bankrupt but had retired decades earlier.

Tools/batteries/appliances were decent/convenient.

[Flamingo13]

Still trying to figure out where there are actual stores still open, thought they'd gone out of business several years ago. (BTW, there is already a Sears thread and that's where someone told me that they still had a store(s) - not sure of the state(s).

[Stripes17]

I miss the old Sears stores I was familiar with including the ones in the malls, the furniture & appliance scratch and dent warehouse, and the small specialty tool stores.

Of course these were all in the 1990's and earlier.

I've had few positive experiences with Sears locations since the K Mart takeover.

[Veritas Vincit]

I haven't been in a Sears in almost 20 years, but I do somewhat lament their demise primarily because they were important anchors to shopping malls. I do frequently go to shopping malls and enjoy them, but it seems like every single chain that anchors them tends to be on the way out or already quasi-dead.



That tells me the problem isn't one individual chain's management, but the online shopping option as a whole (and Amazon in particular) which is slowly killing brick & mortar retail. It seems like a large % of the population will soon be in permanent self-chosen lockdown with work done from home, all shopping done online and food ordered for delivery.

[mascoma]

I miss K Mart. Their walking shoes were only $24 and are just as good as $60 New Balance walking shoes.

[rrah]

The Sears near us closed years ago. There was a smaller Sears Hometown (kind of small store with lawn mowers, appliances, tools that is locally owned). It shut down a couple of years ago, soon after I made a purchase.

I've always purchased our washer/dryers at Sears.The Kenmore brand was made by larger companies for decades, and I've always been happy with them. I also purchased Craftsman tools and lawn equipment there.

When my kids were babies and toddlers I purchased a lot of their sleeping gowns and pajamas at Sears.

I won't really miss it since I've lived without it for awhile. I will say they really did cause their own demise. The mall store near us was smaller. It was poorly organized, messy and always felt kind of dirty. The clothing seemed cheaply made.