Sears or JCP who will die first?

[SomeGuy]

Whelp Disney Store is closing at Quail Springs, Maybe the rumors of H and M taking the middle section of the mall are true.

Especially that one selling sea salt or whatever they are hawking. Also that marketing firm that haunts the other end of the mall with a person with a clipboard.

I agree it gets annoying when you have people with clipboards running around the entire JCP wing of the mall, bugging the crap out of you to take a survey and they apparently pay very little.

[bchris02]

Whelp Disney Store is closing at Quail Springs, Maybe the rumors of H and M taking the middle section of the mall are true.

Do you know if they are re-opening at Penn Square or leaving the market entirely? If they are relocating to Penn Square that would fit right in with what was discussed about H&M.

[Soonerman]

They still have a Disney Store at the Outlet mall.

[Dubya61]

It seems a bit abnormal for teen retailers to be in for more than a ten to fifteen years, yea their are some that do manage to keep themselves viable longer but a lot of them seem like they are riding a trend till it dies.

In his 60 Minutes interview, Jeff Bezos commented something to the effect of, "every business ends -- you just have to know what to do when your business becomes no longer viable." I suspect that Sears and Penneys (and Von Maur, etc.) will all die out if they do not evolve, and the same goes for the "teen" retailers (DEB, Aeropostale, American Eagle, A&F). I even saw a news article today about how the sun may well be going down on McDonalds in spite of all their recent evolution.
Also, I read once that Disney never had any plans to keep a store anywhere more than five years. Seems like a good way to keep agile and "evolutionable".

[SomeGuy]

Another "popular" clothing retailer is going out of business Body Central going out of business, stores closing this weekend

Do you know if they are re-opening at Penn Square or leaving the market entirely? If they are relocating to Penn Square that would fit right in with what was discussed about H&M.

They said on the news 9 site that it was leaving QS, there is nothing about one opening at PS yet.

[bchris02]

In his 60 Minutes interview, Jeff Bezos commented something to the effect of, "every business ends -- you just have to know what to do when your business becomes no longer viable." I suspect that Sears and Penneys (and Von Maur, etc.) will all die out if they do not evolve, and the same goes for the "teen" retailers (DEB, Aeropostale, American Eagle, A&F).

Sears has clearly not evolved, that is evident any time you go into their store. Likewise with K-Mart. JC Penney has attempted to modernize and is actually on an uphill swing. The closures are mostly in dead or dying malls. I don't ever see stores like Macy's and Dillard's or upscale stores like Nordstrom going completely away. When it comes to malls, upscale malls are still doing well while the lower end ones are faltering. Radio Shack is no longer necissary. Teen retailers will always come and go being that fads are very fickle and the next generation isn't going to like what their parents did. Right now, preppy clothes with large brand logos aren't as popular as they were 15 or so years ago and that is trouble for stores like Aeropostale and A&F.

[turnpup]

I could live the rest of my life without setting foot in another Disney store. Fortunately I've never taken my little girl to one. Otherwise I could envision having to go there for at least 3 or 4 more years.

[bchris02]

I really don't see how online shopping is a big factor for clothing stores. Books and electronics I can see, but I would never order clothing online because I want to be able to try it on before ordering.

Here are the two things I am seeing. Department stores in dead or dying malls are likely losing money and will need to be shuttered. Secondly, teen/young adult style right now doesn't involve large brand-name logos like it did in the 2000s. Stores like A&F, American Eagle, Aeropostale, etc all relied on their brand name to distinguish themselves. Today they can't really do that so a thinning of the herd is definitely on its way.

[SomeGuy]

Whelp RadioShack is gearing up to sell or shutter its stores, report says | PCWorld

I can't say I'll miss Radioshack because I can find everything they sell there as cheap if not cheaper online or at Best Buy.

[bluedogok]

Sears will do alright money wise for the big wigs if they can keep selling off prime properties, they own most of their stores. They announced the closure of the Cherry Creek North location here in Denver and that area is having a huge building boom going on, cranes everywhere and development properties going for ridiculous prices.

[SoonerDave]

Whelp RadioShack is gearing up to sell or shutter its stores, report says | PCWorld

I can't say I'll miss Radioshack because I can find everything they sell there as cheap if not cheaper online or at Best Buy.

That, more than anything, speaks to the demise of Radio Shack. The world just changed around them. They were never Best Buy or Fry's when they started. Yeah, they sold a few radios and some black and white TV's, but they were more closely related to the long-defunct Heathkit stores that sold fabulously intriguing electronic components, kits, and piece parts you could assemble yourself. Radio Shack was, arguably, a one-off of Heathkit (in concept only, not ownership) in that you could by resistors, capacitors, microswitches, heck, even seven-segment LED's and breadboards for projects. I had a wonderful old "100-in-1 Electronic Project Kit" that had a solar cell, LED, speaker and myraid other components wired to numbered spring-terminal connectors such that you could wire up nearly ANYTHING you could think up. It was brilliant. Sadly, no one does that anymore. They lived through the 70's and 80's by selling pre-IBM computers, and survived the 80's by (finally) selling PC clones once they realized proprietary hardware was going to doom them.

As far as kit-based electronics failing, that's why Heathkit died a LONG time ago. You could buy kits for dot-matrix printers, projection TV's, and computers, and you'd literally build them yourself if you had the ambition, knowledge, skill, and patience.

Sorry for the aside, but the RS reference caught my attention. Their demise is kinda sad, not merely for the fact of a business failing, but for the segment/time in American history that has passed along with it.

[bchris02]

Sorry for the aside, but the RS reference caught my attention. Their demise is kinda sad, not merely for the fact of a business failing, but for the segment/time in American history that has passed along with it.

I agree with you. RadioShack is a relic of a bygone era and its demise punctuates the passing of that era.

Personally I think one of their mistakes was when they stopped selling computers.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Yeah. $5,000 Tandy was where it was at lol

They used to sell the stuff you needed to build your own boards and electronics. When all of that became obsolete by cheap parts and labor and/or modular construction...Well...The public at large doesn't want to spend 4 hours diagnosing and repairing something they can replace for $10.

So they started selling the $10 replacements.

Then, all the $10 replacements were rendered obsolete by smartphones.

Now they poorly sell smartphones and...Cables.

They've been 5 years behind the curve since I was a kid.


/just random thoughts
//still love Sears

[SomeGuy]

Cache, which is another clothing retailer has apparently filed for Chapter11 bankruptcy and may be closing most of their stores.

[bchris02]

Seems like there has been a significant shakeout of mall retailers recently. I am glad Quail Springs doesn't have a Cache. Penn Square can absorb the loss of a first-rate tenant a lot easier than QSM can.

[zookeeper]

I know this is an old thread, but it came closest to the topic.
JCPenney Is Back From The Dead - Feb. 29, 2016
What a turnaround story.

[SoonerDave]

I know this is an old thread, but it came closest to the topic.
JCPenney Is Back From The Dead - Feb. 29, 2016
What a turnaround story.

Yeah, and the most fascinating part of it is that it was the hipster dynamic that darned-near killed them when everyone was insisting they had to become more contemporary. They gave that guy the boot and went retro - back to a *more* conventional, even old-school model with their rotating sales, frequent coupons, aggressive discount promotions, and decent quality brands. How novel.

Given a choice betwen JCP and Sears, I'd gladly see JCP survive. I fear I might be kidnapped by rebel cockroaches hiding in the walls at the Reding Sequoyah store.

[ctchandler]

I know this is an old thread, but it came closest to the topic.
JCPenney Is Back From The Dead - Feb. 29, 2016
What a turnaround story.

Zookeeper,
Hiring Ellison was a great move. He then hired Michael Amend, the CIO of Home Depot to be the CIO of JCP. Amend is a really sharp man and the son of one of my closest friends. And of course, he's a proud Dad. Michael has managed a lot of changes on their internet marketing/purchasing and that has helped things along with what Ellison has done in other areas.
C. T.

p.s. And for you OSU fans, he's an OSU grad.

[zookeeper]

Zookeeper,
Hiring Ellison was a great move. He then hired Michael Amend, the CIO of Home Depot to be the CIO of JCP. Amend is a really sharp man and the son of one of my closest friends. And of course, he's a proud Dad. Michael has managed a lot of changes on their internet marketing/purchasing and that has helped things along with what Ellison has done in other areas.
C. T.

p.s. And for you OSU fans, he's an OSU grad.

No kidding! Great to know, C.T....it mentioned him in the article I posted - but didn't know of his Oklahoma ties and here he is the son of a friend of yours.
Small world indeed!

[stile99]

In a very ironic way, that article makes me sad. Here's why:

"We're trying something different. We're actually listening to the customers," he quipped.

It's just sad that listening to the customer tell you what they want from you, as opposed to you telling the customer what they want and then wondering why they stopped shopping with you, is new and different.

[ctchandler]

No kidding! Great to know, C.T....it mentioned him in the article I posted - but didn't know of his Oklahoma ties and here he is the son of a friend of yours.
Small world indeed!

Zookeeper,
I didn't see anything about Michael in the article, but of course it quoted the CEO, Marvin Ellison. Too bad Michael is not my son, I could live out my life in comfort!
C. T.

[Uptowner]

I too, miss the 80's radio shack when Tandy was still a thing. I received a 150-in-1 electric project kit when I was a lad. Then I could walk in and buy parts to fix/create radios or TVs. Soldering irons, capacitors, fuses, resistors. They had hundreds of bins in the back with everything you needed, I even fixed my commadore dot matrix printer with parts from RS.

It's probably pure nostalgia and the model wouldnt survive. But I really wish there was a store that sold parts. CompUSA came to town and put all the hardware shops out of business, then immediately flopped. Now if a 80mm case fan goes out my desktop it's down for 2 or 3 days while Amazon or newegg ships one out.

[TheTravellers]

...

It's probably pure nostalgia and the model wouldnt survive. But I really wish there was a store that sold parts. CompUSA came to town and put all the hardware shops out of business, then immediately flopped. Now if a 80mm case fan goes out my desktop it's down for 2 or 3 days while Amazon or newegg ships one out.

I believe Fry's still sells parts, not sure because we haven't been in one since we left IL in 2007-ish, but the model still works, albeit in tandem with everything else sold at a big box store. It's a bummer we'll never see one here.

[whorton]

The idea that the lifetime guarentee on Craftsman tools will soon be totally void, is most distressing. . .

[ctchandler]

The idea that the lifetime guarentee on Craftsman tools will soon be totally void, is most distressing. . .

Whorton,
I read somewhere that Craftsman tools will still be available and the warranty will be good. I don't think I dreamed it, but look around and let us know. Except for my S-K metric set, all I have ever owned is Craftsman.
C. T.