Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The decline of Sears

Poor management and lack of capital doomed Sears. They've been on a downhill road for 30 years.

The rise of more nimble specialty and Big Box stores, coupled with a slow changing management has all but put an end to their business; same for J.C. Penny.

Amen Brother!

I grew up with a "pre-mall" downtown with a stand alone Sears and J.C. Penney, shoe stores, a Ben Franklin, a Woolworths with a dining counter and a few other specialty stores and a movie theater. I actually bought a 10 speed bike and a Winchester 22 from Penney's. The Sears had a big candy counter where you bought chocolate by the pound.

Only one place in town to buy Levi's and they also sold Red Wing shoes

Once the mall was built, Sears and Penney's moved and shuttered the old buildings. It killed downtown.

I still bought a couple of appliances from them over the years but I never really thought of them the same.

My neighbor lives in a Sears kit house.

Ain't that the truth!

My mom has a Sears upright freezer in her garage that has been running continuously since 1960.

The decline began with the invention of toilet paper. After that, you didn't need their catalog anymore.

Toughskins; stiffest damn jeans I ever wore. Never put a hole 'em, though.

As others have mentioned, I recall looking at their (and JCPennys) catalog, especially the guns. I remember buying fishing gear from the Sears store when I was maybe 12. The next year the sporting goods department was gone and Sears moved to a smaller building.

My folks can one up that one. They saved a late 70's catalog with a male model's junk hanging out of his Sears boxers, Sears held a voluntary recall but they or course said no way. Think they had it placed in some sort of plastic preservative. Wonder if it's worth anything??

http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/sears.asp

Sears is slow here also.

This spring i needed a suit we went to the mall, and walked through J C Penny's. I told da wife lets check here. It was all but vacant. I too remeber when those stores where the go to's.

Our local Sears was an anchor store in a decent sized mall. They announced about a month ago, it is closing. They are liquidating all merchandise. I'm 61 and I remember in history or civics class, in high school, Sears & Roebuck was responsible for a lot of innovative (for the time) merchandising practices. I think they were the first to offer, buying "on time" (making payments). Another American Icon, down the tubes. Sad to see, really. Seems like they just didn't keep up with current trends. Honestly, I think they gave up the ship quite a few years ago. It just seemed like they didn't give a chit about quality or service. Too bad.

Sears made a couple of crucial screw-ups. They moved to the mall, instead of neighborhoods. You gonna go to the mall, or down the street to WalMart or Home Depot???

The BIG screw-up, in my opinion, was getting rid of the catalog. Sure, catalog sales may have been lagging, but it would have been an easy transition from the paper catalog to internet sales, when the internet started becoming popular in the mid/late 90's.

Instead, they tossed the catalog, and then spent years trying to establish an online presence. Who knows, we might all be buying from Sears.com instead of Amazon, if they hadn't done this.

My grandfather worked for Sears for 45 years (1941-1986). He managed to have a nice, middle-class life. Good insurance, stock options, good pay. Really sad to see what Sears has become. Missed opportunities, changing tastes, and a flood of Chinese crap, have all contributed.

Simple really. Other companies did it better.

Sears used to sell the Henry J car (built by Kaiser-Frazier). You know anybody that ever bought one?

I just bought a set of ratcheting box wrenches and they are very well made.

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My brother and I sat on Sears catalogs [along with JC Penny's catalog] at the dining table so we could sit with the adults...about a zillion years ago.

I actually have used the catalogs in a out house, and they ain't too good. Paper is too slick, too many skid marks.
I do have four or five boxes of 7x57 ammo with the montgomery wards label.

The Kmart merger did nothing long term for either entity/. Sears had a good store in down town St. Paul, which has closed, and we're going through a whole bunch of Kmarts closing up here right now. As others have said, their competition found ways to do it better. I think going in the malls was a mistake. You sure don't see too many Wal-Marts in malls anywhere, and they're doing pretty good. Many guys here have spoken of the demise of the once popular Craftsman line. I still have an older starter set of Craftsman tools. I'm no professional mechanic, but even I can tell the new stuff just isn't the same quality. Do they even still offer the lifetime guarantee?

Interesting. I bought same probably 2-3 years back. They work, then they don't etc.... bought a cheap set at the napa and they work better actually.

Though I don't run my tools all that hard, so when the tools are half price I will still buy a set if a vehicle needs one. Hard to beat it for 100 bucks or so.

About time to find screwdriver sets on sale too... I swear you can go through so many screwdrivers, where do the SOBs run off to all the time...

I think the nail in their coffin was the automotive dept scandal in the 90's. Even in Phx you could see cars stacked up on Sat for service. When it broke that Sears was paying incentives to auto techs to charge for repairs not needed that destroyed the bond of trust between lifelong consumers and an American institution. They became a battery store after that.
A new generation of women buyers were turned off to a clothing line that was mid-50's to early 60's with a whiff of 70's sewn in. Their clothing buyers were still entrenched in WW II designs that made the company flourish.
And don't forget all the speciality booths in many Sears stores.....Allstate Ins.....Caldwell Banker.....Dean Winter (sp?) Investments.....all gone....a marketing idea that collapsed.
When i came home from the service in '72 the local Sears had already removed the entire line of sporting goods.
But i believe it was the automotive scandal that drove people away for good.