Anyone get any deals when your local sears closed?

[BadMouth]

The local Sears is closing January 1st.  They've got "Everything Must Go" signs up, but most things are only 10-15% off the inflated MSRP which doesn't even bring them down to normal sale prices.

Anyone checked in on a local Sears closing?  Timeframe for real deals?  Or do they just transfer the inventory to another store rather than giving it away?

[Howard_Casto]

You aren't close enough to get the real deals yet.  Around the middle to end of December is when they should start marking things down.  I didn't get any deals on the inventory, but I got a lot of industrial shelves, ect. for next to nothing. 

[pbj]

Are they still going to publish the catalog?  What are desperate 12 years supposed to do when visiting their grandparents?  Those lingerie sections got me through some long nights.

 

[Howard_Casto]

They stopped printing the "big book" all the way back in 1993.  They still have the yearly wish book, but it's for kids, so no bras in there. 

Sears isn't going out of business though... at least not yet.  I predict that they'll all eventually be re-branded as Kmarts since those stores still make money.

[BadMouth]

I don't think the local inventory is showing on their website anymore and delivery to the store is no longer an option. 

There are two others that aren't closing around 30 miles away, but it was nice to get a good deal online and get the immediate gratification of picking it up on the way home from work.

[pbj]

I walked around in a Sears 3 years ago.  Very strange experience.  Shelves were lightly stocked and no employees in sight.  Wasn't a single customer in there, either.  It was in Memorial City mall which has a damn skywalk to a hospital and is always busy.

 

[BadMouth]

I walked around in a Sears 3 years ago.  Very strange experience.  Shelves were lightly stocked and no employees in sight.  Wasn't a single customer in there, either.  It was in Memorial City mall which has a damn skywalk to a hospital and is always busy.

 

I hardly ever go inside, but I regularly buy small tools that pop up on slickdeals and then pick them up after work.
Every once in a great while I'd go in and browse.  The shelves weren't being restocked, but there were still always two employees working the tool department.

This past Friday (a few days after the closure was announced) it was actually crowded.
It was a weird vibe.

[Nephasth]

Sears isn't going out of business though... at least not yet.  I predict that they'll all eventually be re-branded as Kmarts since those stores still make money.

You do realize a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- ton of Kmarts just kicked the bucket, right?

[Mike A]

Kmart's same store sales are in a death spiral.

[Howard_Casto]

Sears isn't going out of business though... at least not yet.  I predict that they'll all eventually be re-branded as Kmarts since those stores still make money.

You do realize a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- ton of Kmarts just kicked the bucket, right?

Yeah, but Kmarts are still making them money while Sears isn't.  Kmart is a very regional thing... in rural areas they do great. 

[Mike A]

Kmart same store sales are down like ten percent in each of the last several years. That is death in retail.

[jennifer]

   I never even knew they were going to close, Fast and quick....Jennifer did however go over there one night with giant sunglasses on and peek in the giant scrap metal dumpsters with her web cam on a selfie stick, and ultimately scaled the thing like Wonder Woman.

[jennifer]

    What you guys seem to be missing, Is Wal mart came and it and pretty much shut them both down.

[Howard_Casto]

^^This^^

I don't deny that Kmart's days are numbered as well, but they are still doing better than Sears.  It's just like how Ames bought out Hills back in the day and rebranded them all and the resulting Ames stores stuck around for 5-10 more years before the inevitable collapse. 

[JimmyU]

They're remodeling the Sears store by my parents' house. It had three stories, but they are going down to just one and will focus on just a few items like appliances and tools. It would not surprise me if Sears is done in ten years time. And way the company is structured now, even if it does go bankrupt the CEO will make a ton of money on all the real estate Sears owns now.

[Vigo]

I don't know how they compare in sales, but Sears still has far superior brand value than Kmart. Kmarts are dying out along with their only customer demographic. Good luck getting people under 70 interested in shopping there if other options exist. Sears is still competitive with appliances, shops tools, grills, tvs, etc. And they actually have some of the best deals to be seen if look.

[Howard_Casto]

I don't know how they compare in sales, but Sears still has far superior brand value than Kmart. Kmarts are dying out along with their only customer demographic. Good luck getting people under 70 interested in shopping there if other options exist. Sears is still competitive with appliances, shops tools, grills, tvs, etc. And they actually have some of the best deals to be seen if look.

*sigh*

I guess that's how Kmart bought Sears then... with their inferior brand that made money hand over fist while Sears was on the verge of bankruptcy.  You know what brick and mortar retail company aside from Walmart that has been the most successful over the past few years?  The "dollar store" brand.  (Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar).  the poor are getting poorer and the middle class is slowly fading.  Cheap stores are doing better than traditional stores because that is the only place most people can afford to shop.  The fact that Sears is perceived as a more expensive brand is exactly why they aren't doing well.  When Kmart bought the brand they essentially did it for the craftsman brand along with a few select clothes brands and the real-estate (because Sears stores are so old, most own the property they sit on.)  Times are tough for brick and mortar, so Kmart is just selling off expendable assets.  They won't survive, but neither will anything else.  Pretty soon it's all Walmart and Amazon. 

[Vigo]

I guess that's how Kmart bought Sears then... with their inferior brand that made money hand over fist while Sears was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Except Kmart wasn't making money hand over fist. The Sears merger was in 2004. Kmart was in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 2002-2003 and had to close hundreds of stores and get a new invstor to infuse billions into the company to become solvent again.

I honestly think that sears demise is being dramatically accelerated by the kmart merger. Sears was steadily shrinking, but it wasn't until kmart that they picked up a lot of their bad habits. That whole "empty shelf" thing PBJ mentioned has been done by kmart since the late 90's to handle low sales locations. Losing Whirlpool over failure to pay for product also rings back to when Kmart helped pound a couple nails in the the Sega coffin after when they wouldn't pay up the millions for all the Dreamcasts they ordered. Now Sears had to sell away their craftsman brand, which has been on a major quality decline since the merger.

Then there is the stuff about the messed up way Sears is run these days... 

[Nephasth]

Howard, you will argue the dumbest ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---...

[BadMouth]

Then there is the stuff about the messed up way Sears is run these days... 

Sounds like another case of people being incentivized to make numbers on a piece of paper change with no regard for the real problems or consequences underlying them.
I blame this type of behavior for a lot of our current problems in society.

[jennifer]

    Oh they used to sell just the cutest bloomers....OMG, this thread is  depressing me.

[nitrogen_widget]

eh, the quality of sears power tools went downhill over a decade ago.
harbor freight stuff lasts longer and costs less.

their stint with socket wrenches and plastic fricken ratchets didn't help them either.
i'm not even sure if they still do the lifetime replacement for hand tools.

my sears hardware closed up yrs ago and I was already buying my tools elsewhere so i got some filters for my house humidifier super cheap.

[Locke141]

Two articles on what is happening to large retail. Clue, it all about leveraged buyouts.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-retail-debt/

https://newrepublic.com/article/145813/cause-consequences-retail-apocalypse?utm_content=buffer585a4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[eds1275]

Sears' going out of business sale brings their prices down to par with everyone else.