Dr. Hess wrote: Sears used to sell houses. I've been in one. OOG's dad's. It was pretty interesting. They delivered them to the rail head and it was all precut with directions: put board A on board B...
Wife's Grandmothers house was one. She and her husband built the house together on ~150 acres in Illinois. In the basement you could still see all the numbering on the joists.
I'm going to miss the sears scratch and dent outlet. Nearly every major appliance I've ever owned has come from there, for pennies on the dollar. Lol. 
I blame it on the killing off of Roebuck. After He left, it was all downhill from there.
Went in Sears about a year ago. The store felt like it was stuck in the 90's, the styles the manicans were wearing were very out of date.
The 2 K-marts near me (45 minutes apart, not same town) are both closing. And it is pretty obvious why--no sense whatsoever of merchandising. Furniture next to the auto parts. Auto parts next to the clothing. Electronics in the middle of the store, with 3 solid walls that created a maze around the rest of it. I was astounded that any manager would ever let a store be designed like that.
Last time I shopped at sears was because they had a good sale on dickies work shorts. That was about a year and a half ago at least, can't remember the last time I was there before that.
There's a Kmart here that's only still open because they have to have a store precence or a hub here for some reason or another. It has a Little Caesars pizza place in the front so the whole store pretty much oozes poverty and sadness upon every sense.
In about a month, we’ll start seeing the predictions of what companies are likely to go under in 2015.
I remember last year, one analyst commented that he “didn’t even think Sears was trying anymore” – Ouch.
New GRM Challenge, who will be first to fall in 2015…Sears, Radio Shack, Best Buy, someone else?
RX Reven' wrote: New GRM Challenge, who will be first to fall in 2015…Sears, Radio Shack, Best Buy, someone else?
My money is on The Shack to be gone. Sears and Best Buy can still scale back but The Shack is sooo over extended. They will be gone by mid summer if not sooner.
I bought a hex key socket set at Sears because I really needed to properly torque an 8mm Allen bolt on my motorcycle. When I got home, I quickly found out the set had two 6mm sockets, but no 8mm. Back to Sears to be told I had to pay extra for the 8mm socket. What? This just didn't make sense, but the store manager insisted. It was less than $2, so I paid, took the socket and vowed never again.
That's one of the weirdest retail experiences I've ever had.
I actually stopped in there the other day to look at their band-saws. It wasn't horrible or over priced, it just wasn't what I was looking for. My biggest problem with them is they are all in malls. I hate malls, mall people and mall traffic.
never really had a bad experience at sears. but to be honest hardly ever shop there. actually come to think of it most recent trips there were because dad got me a gift card for some occasion or another.
we did buy our washer and dryer there when we got our house and paid cash for them. painless experience.
radio shack i would probably be disappointed if it closed. seems like i am going there at least twice a year for some electrical something-or-other that otherwise i would have to buy online and have to wait a few days for shipping.
the Radio Shack Stores around here seem pretty Robust.. but sears is definitely on the way out...
I can see Best Buy going away too.. been watching the local store go from CDs and Computers to DVDs and apple products
Our sears all closed; however, they are offering a sears market franchise for the area. It is very expensive buy in with a very stringent offering. I was in one of the franchise stores last month to exchange a ratchet and it was modern and well organized. May be necessary.
Our Sears refrigerator died. After 4 visits from their Techs, they gave us a new one + $100 gift card for the trouble.
Should I run right out and spend it?
Local(Ithaca) K-mart closed up about 3 years ago, the sears is currently going out of business.
Last time I frequented Sears was 13 years ago when I was stocking up my tool box.
Sears/K-mart, JCPenny's, Best Buy, Radio Shack, CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot and Lowes. They are all zombies just waiting to be put down.
My favorite part of my mom's Sears house is the one section of the roof where the guy putting the house together must have lost one board. 16" OC for the whole works and the one section starts at 16" and ends at 24"-ish.
Twenty years ago I broke a Craftsman 1/2" breaker bar and bought a 3/4" one to break the axle nut loose on a friend's VW bug. The head will go perpendicular to the handle one direction but only 3/4 of the way the other direction. For me that was the beginning of the end, when two chunks of metal can't even be put together with a pin.
rob_lewis wrote: I heard years ago that the only reason Sears had a storefront is to sell you items on credit. They made most of their money through Sears credit cards. Since it was a captured audience, they could charge whatever they wanted to.
Sounds like GM...
Back in th early 1980's I worked at Kmart in college. Kmart was the second largest retailer and the rumor was that Kmart might overtake Sears or at least that was the goal. Then Wally World came out of left field and whooosh.
Hard to believe that Kmart was a happening place to shop AND I still won't set foot into one.
T.J. wrote: Sears/K-mart, JCPenny's, Best Buy, Radio Shack, CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot and Lowes. They are all zombies just waiting to be put down.
Then how come they're building a WalGreens next to every CVS and every time I go to a Lowes or Home Depot the parking lots are jam packed? Clearly, there's money in retail, you just have to do it right. Target and WalMart are successful. Sears needed to do a standalone store thing and get away from the mall. Malls are toxic right now.
My older sister worked at Sears in the early 70's. Every two week payday I'd buy tools w/ her 10% discount or wait for a sale, that's how I built my early tool collection as a kid. Still have them, btw.
Can't count the tools and lawn mowers that came from there as well as some appliances over the years. I live two minutes from the store so convenience factors in. I'll wait for a sale most of the time, internet specials too. Order online and pick up in twenty-some minutes.
Never had any real problems w/ their store. Sales staff appears under trained anymore though. Sad to see the place decline over the years, sign of the times I guess.
http://www.amazon.com/DreamFoam-Mattress-Ultimate-Dreams-Ultra/dp/B00CP85T2Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1413981743&sr=1-1&keywords=Ultimate+Dreams+Plush+bed
More expensive than the other one, but we like it
Locally our Sears closed (in the mall) but built a brand new store over in the big shopping complex on the other side of town.
I rarely if ever shop there however since I got burned by an experience at the "Sears Home Store" back in 2002 or so. The then wife and I decided we needed a dining room set and had to use a card to buy it. I picked up all the boxes of chairs and table one evening in my truck (to save the $50 delivery charge). As I unpacked it all one of the chairs had a broken armrest so I called the next morning to set up an exchange.....no answer. Repeat for several days to no avail. Drive over to find big signs saying they had gone out of business. No warrantees would be honored, no exchanges would be offered, but the credit card debt would be expected to be paid in full.
We only go to Sears to return Land's End items that do not fit the kids. I'm not even interested in looking at the tool section anymore.
volvoclearinghouse wrote:T.J. wrote: Sears/K-mart, JCPenny's, Best Buy, Radio Shack, CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot and Lowes. They are all zombies just waiting to be put down.Then how come they're building a WalGreens next to every CVS and every time I go to a Lowes or Home Depot the parking lots are jam packed? Clearly, there's money in retail, you just have to do it right. Target and WalMart are successful. Sears needed to do a standalone store thing and get away from the mall. Malls are toxic right now.
I agree with you there... at least with Walgreens and Lowes.. I am finding that home Depot is offering less and less variety as they start to cater almost exclusively to people wanting to fix up, and either flip or rent out places as cheaply as possible.
I got a good deal on a dishwasher from Sears earlier this year. However, I didn't go in the store (because it's at the mall) and it's not a Sears brand. I basically bought on price. Could have been from anywhere.
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