Sears

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Sears in Mall of America is closing! OK its a lucrative and busy busy mall, I Feel it closed due to the value of the property.

Kmart will have no stores in 13 states after this wave. Kmart seems to be becoming more of a regional chain.

R.I.P.
Sears - Mall of America
1992-2019

That makes Sears the second original anchor tenant to leave the Mall of America after Bloomingdales.
That leaves Macy's and Nordstrom as the remaining original anchor tenants from the mall's 1992 opening.

[danfifepsu]

Sears in Mall of America is closing! OK its a lucrative and busy busy mall, I Feel it closed due to the value of the property.

Kmart will have no stores in 13 states after this wave. Kmart seems to be becoming more of a regional chain.

R.I.P.
Sears - Mall of America
1992-2019

That makes Sears the second original anchor tenant to leave the Mall of America after Bloomingdales.
That leaves Macy's and Nordstrom as the remaining original anchor tenants from the mall's 1992 opening.

well, it also leaves Sears gone from Minnesota. What could replace it. I have been to Mall of America and even on a weekday evening in the Summer its as busy as many other malls around Xmas time.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Sears in Mall of America is closing! OK its a lucrative and busy busy mall, I Feel it closed due to the value of the property.

Kmart will have no stores in 13 states after this wave. Kmart seems to be becoming more of a regional chain.

R.I.P.
Sears - Mall of America
1992-2019

That makes Sears the second original anchor tenant to leave the Mall of America after Bloomingdales.
That leaves Macy's and Nordstrom as the remaining original anchor tenants from the mall's 1992 opening.

well, it also leaves Sears gone from Minnesota. What could replace it. I have been to Mall of America and even on a weekday evening in the Summer its as busy as many other malls around Xmas time.

Maybe they could replace it with Target...

[shore72]

The local news announced today that our nearest "corporate" store is closing: The Centre at Salisbury, MD. We purchased a new Christmas tree there last season & I wondered if it would last another year. I remember when that store opened, replacing the one in the (now demolished) Salisbury Mall. My fondest Sears memories are of that old location. I seem to recall a soft-opening at the Centre with only a small part of the store open at first. At the old place their auto center & TV/appliance service department were all in the same attached building but when they moved the auto center was in a pad site on the outer perimeter of the mall, while service was moved to a nearby industrial park. At the time Wards was another one of the anchors, with everything in one, & I wonder if M-W signed up first & got exclusive rights to those things.

That Sears had been a ghost town over the last couple years, especially in comparison to the Boscov's. It'll be interesting to see how the space gets filled: management did very well (eventually) filling in the gaps left by Wards & JC Penney. (In came Dick's, a bigger movie theater, HomeGoods, Tuesday Morning & now Burlington). For being the biggest market around, & a college town, Salisbury still has a lot of retail gaps: groceries are limited to Wal*Mart, Food Lion, Acme, Sav-a-Lot & now Aldi---nothing like a Whole Foods in town, with Acme owning the high end. Sam's is the only warehouse club (couple BJ's within an hour drive, probably several hours to a Costco).

[AmesNewington]

I stopped by the Meriden Sears Sunday afternoon. They surely sent away a lot of the worthwhile merchandise to other locations remaining open and kept the items they want to get rid of in the store. There was plenty left and people filled carts with countless items. As I walked around, I realized how these retail spaces deteriorate quickly when they are about to close. The down escalator was moving so slowly it was just about stopped completely, and the elevator made a loud sound that shook the entire store every time someone used it (and it was being used quite a bit). All I could think was how stupid Eddie Lampert and his crew were to let this company go so far downhill. I'm sure this store served customers well throughout the years and now it's just about over.

[mixedday]

Sears in Mall of America is closing! OK its a lucrative and busy busy mall, I Feel it closed due to the value of the property.

Kmart will have no stores in 13 states after this wave. Kmart seems to be becoming more of a regional chain.

R.I.P.
Sears - Mall of America
1992-2019

That makes Sears the second original anchor tenant to leave the Mall of America after Bloomingdales.
That leaves Macy's and Nordstrom as the remaining original anchor tenants from the mall's 1992 opening.

well, it also leaves Sears gone from Minnesota. What could replace it. I have been to Mall of America and even on a weekday evening in the Summer its as busy as many other malls around Xmas time.

Maybe they could replace it with Target...

How about Von Maur? It services the Minneapolis market and it's nearest store is ten miles away. Probably a decent distance away. Another dept store candidate is Dillards. It doesn't serve Minnesota but it services some Midwest states around it.

But I haven't been to this Sears to really know if it's a good site.

At Walden Galleria, a top mall for Buffalo,the Sears is somewhat at the end of the mall.

Closer to Philly, Sears is closing in Park City Center in Lancaster. This mall is the top mall for the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York market and lost Bon Ton already. I think Belk could make a play for this mall, and maybe macy's. I just checked out the Belk in Hagerstown and I think Central PA, even though above the Mason Dixon Line, is more like western MD (Frederick/Hagerstown), than the Philly suburbs or the Northeast corridor. I think Belk could open a couple of location in PA but probably Central PA or Pittsburgh before the Philly market.

[MikeRa]

The Sears at Neshaminy Mall, Bensalem, PA closed for the final time yesterday (1/6/2019) after being open for 50 years.

[EddieJ1984]

And here's a picture of Sears at Oxford Valley Mall last saturday.
https://i.imgur.com/9OLsreK.jpg

[danfifepsu]

Ok how much longer can this brush with death last:https://www.wsj.com/articles/sears-to-stay-open-after-edward-lampert-prevails-in-bankruptcy-auction-11547636823? Will they ultimately close?

[AmesNewington]

I visited the Manchester, CT Sears store on Tuesday, February 27, 2019. It is now one of two Sears locations remaining in Connecticut. It's in the Buckland Hills Mall, where they also have JCPenney, Macys and Dick's Sporting Goods as the primary anchors. It's a rather large store with two floors. They have quite a bit of merchandise, but frankly, it was so spread out (especially in the men's section) it was overwhelming. It reminded me of a Kohl's in its layout. I was looking for spring/summer clothes but they didn't seem to have anything out yet. Usually stores are rolling out warm weather clothing in February. The top floor was clothing and shoes, while the bottom floor was bedding, appliances (which I didn't see) and home goods. Throughout my visit, I rarely saw a cashier at the checkout stations, and the store only had a few customers. It was a Tuesday afternoon, so maybe it was an off time. They seem to have employees stocking and straightening on the floor and will walk over to ring someone out when they are ready to pay. I still think of Sears as a place to go when you need something and know they have it or a great place to do seasonal shopping for clothes, but not a place you would go to weekly or often. I'm glad their still hanging on, and kept at least one store in the area open (wish Meriden didn't have to go). I snapped this one picture as I was leaving but I had to go home so this is all I got. I'm going back to the mall next week. The whole area is a shopper's dream.   

[retailisking]

The company Sears sold its Craftsman line to is suing over Sears' plans for a new premium Craftsman tool line
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sears-stanley-black/sears-is-sued-over-craftsman-brand-idUSKCN1QO031

[patk]

the lancaster pa sears on its last day   :-[

[danfifepsu]

What will happen to Sears?

[Kmart4life]

Wow the flooring in Neshaminy Mall, Bensalem, PA looks very similar to the Lakeland Square Mall here in my neck of the woods. When did it open? Ours opened in 1986 and is still pretty original. Also the Sears store front looks the same here too.

[EddieJ1984]

Wow the flooring in Neshaminy Mall, Bensalem, PA looks very similar to the Lakeland Square Mall here in my neck of the woods. When did it open? Ours opened in 1986 and is still pretty original. Also the Sears store front looks the same here too.

The mall opened in 1968, was renovated in 1995 which the flooring is still from, had a smaller renovation in 2015 but the flooring wasn't touched.

Here is another pic of the floor, where it looks a bit more plain.
https://i.imgur.com/oav8POd.jpg

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

What will happen to Sears?

Ask Sears.

[TheFugitive]

My guess is that Sears will hang on in some form, likely as an online-only retailer.

[AmesNewington]

My guess is that Sears will hang on in some form, likely as an online-only retailer.

If Sears does well with their small, appliance and home format, if I were them, I'd stick with that strategy and open additional small locations. They should take their existing full line department stores and reduce space, but continue to offer a limited clothing/accessory selection, especially in a state Kmart does not exist. They should keep a few full line stores in each state. If they must continue to evaluate stores, so be it, but there is a way they can make it. They just have to be creative, especially as they now have flexibility with far less dead weight to worry about.

As for Kmart, I believe this is the format that can be successful, believe it or not. Again, take the remaining 202 stores and evaluate them. Reduce the sales floor to what is necessary (get rid of slow selling merchandise), remodel tired looking stores to a simple yet refreshed look, but make the stores look full and clean. Kmart has more opportunities because they can sell a bigger variety of items such as health and beauty, grocery, home goods, clothing, etc. Offer more in-store Shop Your Way promotions, not just online.

For both, update the checkout experience, which is painfully obvious one of their downfalls from shoppers. Especially Kmart, as more high volume, frequent purchases are made. Invest in a quicker, modern POS system that doesn't freeze/crash, and eliminate the credit card and SYR member signups and constant question prompts at the checkout. They should redirect those services to the service desk or create a special online pickup/credit card payment center near the service desk. These strategies would speed up the process. Kmarts are never crazy busy, but the lines take forever with the slow systems and consolidating all special services to the checkout line. Seriously, why would they ever make cashiers sign people up for the credit card or SYW account when people in line have one or two items behind them? It takes time to process these queries. I also notice Kmarts do not have at least one express line. That would help with small orders.

The last little piece of advice would be to install new signs on any Sears or Kmart with the old logo. Especially Big Kmart signs. That was 1997. Now, a Big Kmart isn't considered to be big like Walmart.

[TheFugitive]

Combined Sears/Kmart does not have the cash to engage in much of what you suggest.
Going online would be a much more cost efficient option.

[danfifepsu]

Combined Sears/Kmart does not have the cash to engage in much of what you suggest.
Going online would be a much more cost efficient option.

Kmart is a tarnished brand I feel and how Sears and Kmart are now more regional chains than national now.

Here is this too: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevendennis/2019/04/05/back-to-the-future-sears-tries-small-stores-again-and-again-and-again/#5a8f8edf3005

[AmesNewington]

Combined Sears/Kmart does not have the cash to engage in much of what you suggest.
Going online would be a much more cost efficient option.

A lot of what I suggested isn't far fetched. If they can't try a few of these things, not sure why they were even saved. Yes, I know it was Lampert and a judge, but come on. Down to 425 stores and they can't even spruce them up a bit? Why not just go online and close all the stores?

[TheFugitive]

Sears has sued Eddie Lampert, claiming that he "looted assets and drove the company
into bankruptcy".

https://www.oann.com/sears-sues-lampert-claiming-he-looted-company-and-drove-it-into-bankruptcy/

[retailisking]

Sears has sued Eddie Lampert, claiming that he "looted assets and drove the company
into bankruptcy".

https://www.oann.com/sears-sues-lampert-claiming-he-looted-company-and-drove-it-into-bankruptcy/

Fast Eddie will probably settle for pennies on the dollar.

[Amesguy2000]

I guess sears is closing it's "Newly Remodeled" Oakbrook store. In which I have no idea how to understand their logic
Why spend all that money on a remodel just to close a few months after completion?
I have heard it is because they can't come up with the rest of the money to finish paying off the renovation cost.
Also it's very odd to have a 1 week liquidation (store closing) sale for a single store which is 4/22 to 4/28 I believe
Maybe the "new" part of Sears Holdings is forcing the to close.
I Don't know.. Lets hear your thoughts

[danfifepsu]

will Sears even be around in 2020 or Kmart? That makes no sense to close a store they spent money into 6 months ago. I Recall my father going to that store 40 yrs ago.

[retailisking]

Why spend all that money on a remodel just to close a few months after completion?

The renovation costs were an obligation of Old Sears. The official story is that the store was unprofitable and New Sears opted to not assume the lease. The renovated store had a number of disadvantages such as no mall entrance and a non-standard product mix. The mall is also a bit more upscale than the typical Sears-anchored mall. All in all, the mall owners are probably not unhappy to see them go.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-oakbrook-center-closing-20190425-story.html

[AmesNewington]

Why spend all that money on a remodel just to close a few months after completion?

The renovation costs were an obligation of Old Sears. The official story is that the store was unprofitable and New Sears opted to not assume the lease. The renovated store had a number of disadvantages such as no mall entrance and a non-standard product mix. The mall is also a bit more upscale than the typical Sears-anchored mall. All in all, the mall owners are probably not unhappy to see them go.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-oakbrook-center-closing-20190425-story.html

If New Sears can't afford to update their remaining stores that need major attention under their control, then they shouldn't have even bothered taking Old Sears. So far, I see no efforts to even advertise. They took the Weekly Ads off their websites. Haven't seen any TV commercials either. I have to wonder if they really have a plan. I would have hoped that another company would have obtained Kmart and put some investment in the remaining locations. I feel they still could have a chance without the influence of Eddie Lampert.

[Everything Community]

We're very lucky that our local SEARS has managed to miraculously survive so many rounds of closings, even the path following the bankruptcy. Manchester has had a Sears in town for around 60 years!

It was originally located at the Parkade in West Middle Turnpike.(where the current Stop & Shop supermarket is) When the Shoppes at Buckland Hills opened here in early 1990, Sears moved in as their current location (yes, it was one of mall's original anchors!).

Now, it feels that you're walking in the 2000s era of Sears. Crazy enough that they still have older carts & IBM computers used for checkout transactions.

Fast Eddie should've felt his need to upgrade all of that technology & Other stuff in all of his stores years ago!

Anyways, here y'all go & see it for yourselves virtually how this store looks like after bankruptcy!

[AmesNewington]

We're very lucky that our local SEARS has managed to miraculously survive so many rounds of closings, even the path following the bankruptcy. Manchester has had a Sears in town for around 60 years!

It was originally located at the Parkade in West Middle Turnpike.(where the current Stop & Shop supermarket is) When the Shoppes at Buckland Hills opened here in early 1990, Sears moved in as their current location (yes, it was one of mall's original anchors!).

Now, it feels that you're walking in the 2000s era of Sears. Crazy enough that they still have older carts & IBM computers used for checkout transactions.

Fast Eddie should've felt his need to upgrade all of that technology & Other stuff in all of his stores years ago!

Anyways, here y'all go & see it for yourselves virtually how this store looks like after bankruptcy!

I'm very happy Manchester is still living on post bankruptcy. This is the closest location to me although in my town (Newington) we still have the Sears Outlet store. I have started going to Buckland Hills once a week to walk and when I'm there, I always stop in and browse at Sears. When I started going in late February, I wasn't sure I cared for the store. I had gotten used to Meriden and miss it to this day (it's sad to see it empty). Also at the time, Manchester had an abundance of clearance clothing and they were slower getting spring/summer apparel out on the sales floor. I notice that things are improving weekly when I go. I am actually finding things I like. I love the fact I still have a Sears to shop at and I've grown to like it. I wish I lived closer. I am also happy that CT still has the Kmart in Watertown, although it's a far drive. Wish we could get a few small Kmarts to open again. I prefer them to Walmart and Target. Still angry they closed the Vernon store.

[shore72]

I'd been needing tires on my work van; the company that manages our fleet has a list of national providers that includes Sears. Well, last week I had some free time and found myself at the Price's Corner Shopping Center in Wilmington, DE. Wait, I need tires, there's a Sears Auto Center...let's do this thing! Odd, I thought, that the Sears department store had closed but the auto center is still kicking. Guess either a) they're keeping their numbers up or b) their lease isn't up yet.

The place had the same look/feel of other Sears Holding locations I've been in lately. Disheveled. They're trying, I'll give them that, but not hard enough. Unfortunately it wasn't a good experience: I walked in the door about 1pm expecting to be done in an hour, 1-1/2 hr tops. I walked out at 4:30. The crux of the problem seems to be that they only have a few employees in the shop. Plenty of empty bays and they were quick to pull my van into one...and there it sat.

This was my first visit to a Sears Auto Center since the mid-90's. I really wanted it to be a good experience. I won't be back.