Sears or JCP who will die first?

[baralheia]

The Sears in Norman at the Sooner Fashion Mall is still open, as are two Sears Hometown stores - one in Bethany and one near Quail Springs Mall.

[Bunty]

Somehow, the bullet is dodged again.

http://kfor.com/2017/11/03/these-45-...bout-to-close/

Some of those stores are in fast growing towns. If Sears can't make a profit under those good circumstances, then it's pretty bad off.

[SomeGuy]

This isn't good

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/24/news...ool/index.html

The only Sears left in the metro is that one on the south side at 44th and Western, correct? Even if it's the only Sears left in OKC, I can't see how it does much business.

They greatly reduced their electronics section last time I was there, only one row and 4 tvs at most.

[bchris02]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPcxdwbWJ0s

[oklip955]

Several months ago i went to the southside Sears to pickup parts for my mower. An elderly lady was returning a purse. She thought it was leather but found out it was cheap plastic when she got home. I walked by the women's purses, they were all Walmart or lower quality. Nothing there that I wanted or I guess anyone else. I bought some Craftsmen wrenches in a box and paid like $29 for them on half price sale. I got them home and found out they were junk. I need to return them. I've bought lots of Craftsmen tools of about the same price point in years past. Now Craftsmen has gone down to junk. My "Craftsmen" mowers are just Husquavarn's with the Craftsmen name. I did not find what I was looking for so I just went to the dealer and got my parts. Sorry to say after looking around the store, nothing in there that I want. I walked by the mattress displace. They were so yucky dirty that I did not want to touch them. So sad for Sears to be this way.

[Mike50]

Once Eddie took control of Sears it was doomed. He got a bargain at the time, the Sears properties were worth twice as much as what he bought the stock for. When the economy went into recession the property values dropped very fast so he had no choice but to keep on trying to run them til the economy got better so he could part them out. Luckily he got the chance to buy Kmart so he could doom two once great companies at the same time. I think Sears/Kmart will be done in six months. At least at JCP they have always wanted the company to survive and get better although they have made alot of stupid mistakes but in the last 2 or 3 years they have done much better job.

[mugofbeer]

I read the US has 4x the amount of retail space as other western countries. With Amazon out there now, we are just getting to the point where the weak retailers are, unfortunately, going to die. We simply don't need (or want) as much as we have.

[stile99]

I say this not to imply they are doing fine in ANY sense of the word, but I do feel obliged to point out Sears has been about six months from death for over a decade now. People were predicting it at the time of the Kmart/Sears thing, and that was 13 years ago, with quarterly declines ever since. Selling off assets started as early as 2005, with a former exec saying in 2006 that the company had an uncertain future. Next month, this very thread will have four candles on the birthday cake.

Again, this is not to imply they're doing fine, I wouldn't be surprised if Sears makes the announcement by the time I finish this post. I'm just saying as zombies go, this one is getting really long in the tooth.

[SoonerDave]

I say this not to imply they are doing fine in ANY sense of the word, but I do feel obliged to point out Sears has been about six months from death for over a decade now. People were predicting it at the time of the Kmart/Sears thing, and that was 13 years ago, with quarterly declines ever since. Selling off assets started as early as 2005, with a former exec saying in 2006 that the company had an uncertain future. Next month, this very thread will have four candles on the birthday cake.

Again, this is not to imply they're doing fine, I wouldn't be surprised if Sears makes the announcement by the time I finish this post. I'm just saying as zombies go, this one is getting really long in the tooth.

Valid observation, but what I think is going on is a matter of perpetuating a company through a well-controlled, painfully slow bleed out. They've quietly (well, sorta) sold off virtually every brand asset they had, and in so doing, perpetuated this more or less masochistic form of cash flow that has allowed them to stay afloat while still doing nothing more than postponing the inevitable. At some point, assets will all be gone, there will be nothing left to sell off to perpetuate the faux cash flow, and suppliers will stop extending them credit. That's when the final, ugly stanza of this particular retail soap opera will finally and mercifully come to an end...

[jn1780]

Subtract another 100 stores from Sears balance sheet. Just shows how well Sears use to be if they have all these assets lying around after all these years.

I don't know how the 44th street store is still alive. Maybe this will be it for them?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/sear...re-stores.html

[baralheia]

Subtract another 100 stores from Sears balance sheet. Just shows how well Sears use to be if they have all these assets lying around after all these years.

I don't know how the 44th street store is still alive. Maybe this will be it for them?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/04/sear...re-stores.html

The 44th and Western store isn't on the list this time. In fact, it's the only Sears left in OKC proper; it's one of only two full Sears locations left in the greater OKC metro area (the other is in Sooner Fashion Mall in Norman).

[brianinok]

I feel an obligation to point out that Amazon started in 1994. Sears shut down the precursor to internet sales, their catalog, in 1993. They had the infrastructure to be Amazon with with brick-and-mortar stores (which would have given them the ability to have same day pick up and delivery across the country) but while Jeff Bezos was imagining what Amazon could be the upper management at Sears was trying to figure out how to save money for the once-largest retailer in the world without any vision as to what trend was coming.

[Bunty]

I feel an obligation to point out that Amazon started in 1994. Sears shut down the precursor to internet sales, their catalog, in 1993. They had the infrastructure to be Amazon with with brick-and-mortar stores (which would have given them the ability to have same day pick up and delivery across the country) but while Jeff Bezos was imagining what Amazon could be the upper management at Sears was trying to figure out how to save money for the once-largest retailer in the world without any vision as to what trend was coming.

I wonder if there was such a thing as sears.com in 1994.

[Urbanized]

sears.com was launched in 1999.

[jn1780]

Walmart only just now realized in the past couple of years of the goldmine they sit on with their built out infrastructure. Amazon will have to always keep Prime costs way low if they want to keep Walmart from making a run on them. Its their AWS services and high stock growth that lets them get away with lower profit margins on individual orders.

100 dollars for what equates to pennies on the dollar shipping for high volume users along with free video service is a great deal for people.

[stile99]

The axe falls again, completely missing Oklahoma.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...ing/659345002/

Kinda makes you wonder if corporate completely forgot about us. Not sure if that's good or bad, actually.

[Bill Robertson]

How can there be 63 Sears stores worse than the 59th Street store?

[Pete]

How can there be 63 Sears stores worse than the 59th Street store?

THAT is exactly how bad Sears is doing these days.

[SoonerDave]

How can there be 63 Sears stores worse than the 59th Street store?

I think you mean 44th.....and I suspect there may be some other reason this store survives. Surely its actual retail income can't be sufficient. Could be something related to building ownership, or lease arrangements, or something related to the land on which the building sits, or some combination, that forces Sears to keep that building open.

[Bill Robertson]

Opps! I did mean 44th. I get those two streets confused a lot.

[rezman]

I was in the 44th street Sears a couple weeks ago, and there were actually quite a few shoppers in there. Back around Christmas time it was busy as well. From the outside it always looks deserted.
Maybe it’s the empty wasteland of parking on the northside.

[rezman]

Stopped in the Sears Hometown store at Quail Springs yesterday to purchase a new straight shaft attachment for my Craftsman weed trimmer, and they have a sign in their window that says “we’re not going anywhere”. When I asked them about it, they said a lot of people are confusing the Hometown stores with the corporate stores, and think they are one and the same and are going down with them. They said this is not the case, and the even if all corporate stores close, the independantly owned Hometown Sears stores have the ablility to stay open.

[SomeGuy]

Sw 44th Sears closing https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...ber/750127002/

I'm not surprised, everytime I've gone it's felt more and more empty they only had a row of electronics left last time I went.

[stile99]

Sw 44th Sears closing https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...ber/750127002/

I'm not surprised, everytime I've gone it's felt more and more empty they only had a row of electronics left last time I went.

http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=44356

[jn1780]

Looks like the end actual is near for Sears. They could restructure but I doubt there is anything worth salvaging. (Its all been sold off already). The lenders want them to shut it all down.


https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/12/busin...tcy/index.html