sears roebuck and company
Willis Tower in Chicago, the former Sears tower. Still, the tallest building in America
Today Monday, October 15, 2018, is the end of an era. Sears has fully gone down for the count. These stores like JC Penney and K-Mart have gone gradually kicking and dragging in slow increments
Sears began in 1886, courtesy of a railroad agent, Richard Sears. The company began as a watch business in Minnesota. Then moved to Chicago in the next year. He then brought on watchmaker Alvah Roebuck as a partner. The first Sears Roebuck catalog, was printed in 1896. It's what catalog meant to me while growing up. It first featured jewelry and watches.
This iconic and traditional series of stores truly transformed America. Sears was one of the traditional "big box" stores that helped anchor the malls of America. It was the largest retailer in the US. Now in 1999 it was evicted from the Dow Jones Industrial Average and replaced there by Home Depot.
Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances were Its foremost sales items. In the 1950s it was number 2 behind J C Penney in selling clothing merchandise. The odd thing about giant merchandisers like Sears is the slow departure behind their last gasp. While this is truly the official end, with formal bankruptcy filing in Chicago, they still die out absolutely cell by cell.
There are still remnant stores yet to be shuttered. 142 more plan to close this year. These are in addition to those already closed in 2018,
It's still secret immediately which stores the company plans to close..There were once more than 3,500 locations hrouighout the U.S. Under its namesake Sears brand and Kmart. Approximately 700 are still in business and it hopes to keep a number going open through the 2018, holidays season.
When a giant departs it leaves more than a legacy. I still have gift certificates that will likely die out. Some times a store like this can outlast you and your lifetime
Remember, you can never be sure what type of commercial legacy you are building here at Wealthy Affiliate, You can be sure, however, your efforts will take you to skyscraper heights!
Recent Comments
39
Hey, MKearns, that is a good story. Thx, it put me in mind of another well-known bankruptcy.
I don't remember much about it, but of late that is not required, but when Robert Hall men's clothing went belly up they had lots of after sale clothes to be sold. I was called on to sell the remaining inventory. I called in all of my salvage buyers to bid on the remnants of the 'going out of business sale' and the Reader's Digest Version of the story, it was sold to a good friend of mine in Shawnee, Oklahoma who ran several retail salvage stores in the south-west part of the USA. He took the money he made from that sale and opened a Christian Retreat in Gunnison, Colorado or in a small town nearby. About 25 of us attended that retreat each year with a Christian theme. We had several notables each year who told where their life had allowed them to go and do. Everyone told a story that had brought them to this point. They all left their legacy with each person there. Robert Hall Stores left a legacy of making those great memories possible. I pray Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck will have a similar legacy for us to look back on.
As sad as it is to see Sears go down the tubes we can learn from this. From my point of view Sears like Penney's and Kmart were great but they somehow failed to change with time. They were great ideas in their era but times always change the way things need to be done. We need to learn and adapt as our environment changes as well. It's hard but to be a growing concern one must change with the market. Just thinking.
No one realizes that the Federal wage and hour laws may be the underlying problem for many of Sears (and many other companies) problems.
As employee costs were pushed up and up, many companies could not or would not keep salespeople on the floor. Self-service may be great but many depts need experienced sales help.
I remember many, many times I could not buy because there was no one on the sales floor to assist me.
It is hard to measure the true costs of overbearing government policy but the loss of these institutions may be one
The big stores of the past are slowly leaving us. Of course, a big reason for that is the rise of popularity of shopping on the internet. Guess what? That's where we come in. The internet is becoming more and more important to world shoppers, and that means we have a chance to bring more and more visitors to our sites. It is sad to see a big giant who has been such an icon for so long go away, but it is for us also a cause for celebration.
See more comments
Great article, Mike. It's been closing slowly. I got some clothes from Lands Ens closing out of Sears.
I don't see many people in the mall compared to years before. Online shopping is taking off the footprints of the human inside the store.
I am scared to extrapolate the future of big stores inside the Malls.