What happened to Sear's?
10-16-2018, 08:22 PM
#71
FWIW
Having worked in the commercial real estate (retail, office, industrial) development and investment arena for most of my career before getting into mergers and insurance, I had lots of dealings with folks from Sears on the retail and real estate divisions. I also had a lot of dealings with folks from General Motors and Chrysler on the office space. They both had common characteristics; gigantic hubris. I hated the prospect of entering into negotiations with either of them because equity and fairness had no place in their vocabulary. Of all of the times that I entered into negotiations with that group, I'll bet that I had to walk away 80% of the time.
If you have that much pomposity, you are not likely to see the bumps in the road that might bode your business failure. That's my view on a major contributor to Sears decline.
Having worked in the commercial real estate (retail, office, industrial) development and investment arena for most of my career before getting into mergers and insurance, I had lots of dealings with folks from Sears on the retail and real estate divisions. I also had a lot of dealings with folks from General Motors and Chrysler on the office space. They both had common characteristics; gigantic hubris. I hated the prospect of entering into negotiations with either of them because equity and fairness had no place in their vocabulary. Of all of the times that I entered into negotiations with that group, I'll bet that I had to walk away 80% of the time.
If you have that much pomposity, you are not likely to see the bumps in the road that might bode your business failure. That's my view on a major contributor to Sears decline.
10-17-2018, 03:04 AM
#72
stated slightly differently Harry, " they never saw the train coming!"
10-17-2018, 12:04 PM
#73
Oh, they saw it. They just thought it was HO scale and it would pass beneath them.
04-25-2019, 07:09 PM
#74
Thread Starter
Has anyone been in a Sears store lately? The Sears in our local store is now 1/2 it's original size. Raymour & Flannigan took over the other half. I wonder how they manage to keep the stores open.
04-25-2019, 08:22 PM
#75
They closed everything but auto repair in our small town. Probably surviving on batteries.
05-01-2019, 04:39 PM
#76
I couldn't tell you if the local stores are open or closed.
Last time i was in there it was pretty grim.
Last time i was in there it was pretty grim.
05-01-2019, 06:17 PM
#77
Ours up here and in nearby bordering towns in New Hampshire have all closed.
12-31-2019, 05:13 PM
#79
Thread Starter
Liz and I went to the mall yesterday and I just had to stop into Sears just to see what was left. I know that they went through bankruptcy and reorganization, but I the stores are still open and I was curious.
The store in the Rockaway Town Square Mall, Rockaway, New Jersey, is a ghost of itself. It is about 1/2 the size that it used to be. A furniture store now occupies part of the first floor space. The appliance salesmen looked old and tired and were standing around with nothing to do. Many of the shelves were empty. Even if you wanted to buy something, there was very little to buy. I took a stroll into the tool department, or what was left of it. Sadly, it's been reduced to very small. It almost looked like they were just trying to sell existing inventory but not getting anything new.
I can't understand how the store manages to stay open. It looked so bad that Liz asked one of the salespeople if Sears was planning on closing this store. He, of course, answered, "No", but I wouldn't bet on it. Sadly, the store looks like its about to close. I happen to think that Sears will soon be a memory.
The store in the Rockaway Town Square Mall, Rockaway, New Jersey, is a ghost of itself. It is about 1/2 the size that it used to be. A furniture store now occupies part of the first floor space. The appliance salesmen looked old and tired and were standing around with nothing to do. Many of the shelves were empty. Even if you wanted to buy something, there was very little to buy. I took a stroll into the tool department, or what was left of it. Sadly, it's been reduced to very small. It almost looked like they were just trying to sell existing inventory but not getting anything new.
I can't understand how the store manages to stay open. It looked so bad that Liz asked one of the salespeople if Sears was planning on closing this store. He, of course, answered, "No", but I wouldn't bet on it. Sadly, the store looks like its about to close. I happen to think that Sears will soon be a memory.
12-31-2019, 05:36 PM
#80
Private equity/vulture capitalism kills everything it touches.