They are closing the last Sears in town...

[salpal48]

It is unfortunate that Sears and many other Old names are going down the tubes. All the blame is basically On the backs of the American people who left Them and Other's for Cheap products made it china and Other Ungodly countries You don't want to Visit. they were to late and to late to Jump on the band wagon for cheap and disposable stuff.
The American Got what they wanted Cheap goods @ all Costs. Sears and Others were packed with American made products. Most Americans Rejected them for Cheap Junk.
Now, the American workers are suffering with No work. They wanted Cheap Goods , They got It, now they have no good jobs to pay for them. Be careful what you wish for.

[Mohawk Daddy]

Another American Iconic Business Killed off by Wall Street, Harvard MBA, Global Banker Types. Todays objective in business is to Hype a Business to get the Stock up; Take lots of Stocks/Options as compensation; Dump the Stock when you have manipulated it to an unrealistic price and leave the Investment Sucker s holding the bag, then sell off the Real Estate and Assets as it slides down so you can milk the last bit of Largess from the coffers; then disappear and let the pundits pick the bones of a Great Iconic American Business. General Electric (GE) is the next to go; and it was subverted by the Obaminites, Renewable Energy, Fed's Subsidies, and other tools of the Wall Street/Harvard MBA types.

Good analysis. I believe this is what is known as vulture capitalism. A variation is to borrow as much money as possible, go broke, file bankruptcy and leave the lenders, the stockholders, and the employees with little or nothing. Old time businessmen wouldn't have dreamed of operating in this fashion.

[Harry O]

This thread has shook loose some memories:

"Who was Merle Hay?" I used to go by that intersection (with I-80) every few months whenever I went to or from college. A few years later I heard the name on a History special on TV. That was long before the Internet -- or the History Channel. First US soldier to die in WWI. I am sure there are a lot of other details that I don't know.

My mother shopped for my grade school (and somewhat later) clothes from Sears since they were heavier duty than the clothes sold at Penney's. Lasting longer meant something back then.

I have been to many Sears stores in the last 45-50 years, just not that one. After I left my parents home for college, there was always a different store closer to me. When I got out of college and got a job, I used to go to their store almost every Sunday. They had tool sales on Sunday. I no longer had ready access to my fathers tools. I put away a little money from each paycheck earmarked for tools, then checked the ads in the Sunday paper and decided what to buy that week. It did not matter if I did not have an immediate need for it. If it was a useful tool and I did not have one, I bought it. In a few years, I had a great collection of tools. Great times. After I got a full selection of hand tools, there was nothing left at Sears for me.

My parents never bought appliances from them since they had a discount through an uncle for a competing brand.

[salpal48]

This thread has shook loose some memories:

"Who was Merle Hay?" I used to go by that intersection (with I-80) every few months whenever I went to or from college. A few years later I heard the name on a History special on TV. That was long before the Internet -- or the History Channel. First US soldier to die in WWI. I am sure there are a lot of other details that I don't know.

My mother shopped for my grade school (and somewhat later) clothes from Sears since they were heavier duty than the clothes sold at Penney's. Lasting longer meant something back then.

I have been to many Sears stores in the last 45-50 years, just not that one. After I left my parents home for college, there was always a different store closer to me. When I got out of college and got a job, I used to go to their store almost every Sunday. They had tool sales on Sunday. I no longer had ready access to my fathers tools. I put away a little money from each paycheck earmarked for tools, then checked the ads in the Sunday paper and decided what to buy that week. It did not matter if I did not have an immediate need for it. If it was a useful tool and I did not have one, I bought it. In a few years, I had a great collection of tools. Great times. After I got a full selection of hand tools, there was nothing left at Sears for me.

My parents never bought appliances from them since they had a discount through an uncle for a competing brand.

Sunday papers, Nobody knows what they are anymore, never mind Read newspapers

[Echo]

Two Craftsman tool kits in my storeroom, Kenmore washer & dryer, Coolspot reefer, and God Knows what else...

[Hickory]

They say that big fish eat the little fish, but when the big fish gets old, it dies.

[snowwolfe]

In retail, you change with the times or you die. Sears would not change with the times and reaped the rewards.

[Kimber1911]

They closed all of them around here in central NY

[dale2242]

I have a lot of Craftsman wood working tools in my shop.
They are middle of the road quality and price.
Their outdoor gas powered equipment has become total *** in my opinion.
My string trimmer and leaf blowers are junk in my opinion.
They both seem to have carburetor issues.
You can`t even adjust them without breaking the seals on the adjustment screws.
I have went to Stihl equipment.
It is more expensive but of MUCH better quality.
It is a sad thing but, I am not sorry to see them go.
I agree that the Sears catalog was the "Wish Book" of my youth...dale

[Walks]

SEARS started as a mail order outfit.
Didn't start building stores until the 1920's. Catalog business was stopped in the 1990's. Catalog had 1550 pages in 1993.
In 2005 a man named Edward Lambert bought a majority share of Sears. He already owned K-Mart. He then started cutting employee hours, any benefits left disappeared. He closed stores, sold off the Great Sears Name Brands; Kenmore & Craftsman.
Cut the wages of new hires to minimum wage.
Slashed services in the Auto Center, took away all future Lifetime Warranties.

Down 2300 stores in 2005 to just about 500 now.

And he just announced a 4.5 billion dollars bailout.

In 2005 Amazon was a blip on the radar.

There were upper mgmt people at Sears that wanted to start an online purchase/delivery system.
Lambert stopped it.

Broadway, May Co. Montgomery Ward, J. Magnin, I. Magnin, Gemco. And I don't know how many eastern stores are gone.

Wal-Mart did that. Sam Walton would take a good well made American product over to the chinese.
Say make this cheaper, doesn't have to be as good, just look ok.

By the time Sears caught on to that, Wal-Mart was racing West, destroyed small towns in it's wake.

SEARS, probably the greatest Dept Store in History.

Killed by the Greed of 2 men.

[richhodg66]

I just had to go to N.C. to take care of some stuff and while there, took a walk through a mall in Jacksonville. One, the mall seemed in good shape which is rare anymore, didn't notice any empty stores and lots of people shopping. Two, the big Sears there seemed to be doing well too and even still had the automotive section, the few Sears stores I've seen lately anywhere else were dying (they've closed all the ones around here and the last K-Mart I know of in Salina is closing now). I hate seeing them go, but it seems inevitable now.

[abunaitoo]

I grew up with Sears.
From the Christmas catalogs, to the tool catalogs.
Got my Cub Scouts uniform from them.
Almost all my cloths during grade school was from Sears.
Work cloths were from Sears.
Still use most of my original Craftsman tools.
I remember in the 60's, during Christmas, sears was packed with people.
Toy department was huge.
Sporting goods department had almost any equipment for any sports.
Got my first bicycle from Sears.
I still go to Sears to buy stuff.
Mostly tools.
Seems they don't really have much of anything else these days.
Very sad.

[Remmy4477]

Sad! Grew up going to sears, monkey wards, Kmart, woolsworth, gibsons and a few others.

Sears, craftsman tools
Montgomery wards, had the best bargain basement sales.
Kmart, remember there deli section, the best hoggies in town.
Woolsworth, best lunch menu.
Gibsons, lots of ammo and sporting goods.

Sure miss those stores, growing up right before christmas the sears and wards catologs were big hits with us kids.

Days by gone, but we lived it! Memories!

[shooterg]

When they started replacing USA made Craftsman tools with China made, I cut up the Sears card I'd had since 1971. Got thousands of $$ in the old Craftsman tools. Granddad even had a manure spreader and a David Bradley hammer mill we used on the farm, mail ordered from Sears, along with a cream separator, sausage grinder and a good deal more. My Dad's Springfield 15Y .22 and the traps he ran , same . My first .22 was a Sears(actually a Marlin 80) with the later addition of a Ted Williams 4X scope, still kills squirrels just fine.
Had Kenmore appliances, not many, as they all lasted for many years. It's a shame.

[sawinredneck]

I was a member of the “Craftsman club” for the longest time, they perturbed me when they killed that program! I hadn’t been in for a while but needed to replace some missing sockets so I went in a couple of weeks ago. What a disgusting joke! Bare shelves, maybe five toolboxes and half the store full of mattresses! I was told it will be closing now, last store in Wichita.

[jonp]

Sears / Kmart was doing well until a new owner bought them as a tax write-off.
The only time I go to sears is to replace a broken craftsman tool

No they were not. Sears has been a sinking ship for years. They had a run with a bad CEO but the new one has kept them afloat longer than I thought he could. Selling off product lines, closing stores and selling real estate has kept them going. The problem is every business like that is struggling in the age of the internet. Big box stores being anchors are dieing along with the mall concept.

[jonp]

It is unfortunate that Sears and many other Old names are going down the tubes. All the blame is basically On the backs of the American people who left Them and Other's for Cheap products made it china and Other Ungodly countries You don't want to Visit. they were to late and to late to Jump on the band wagon for cheap and disposable stuff.
The American Got what they wanted Cheap goods @ all Costs. Sears and Others were packed with American made products. Most Americans Rejected them for Cheap Junk.
Now, the American workers are suffering with No work. They wanted Cheap Goods , They got It, now they have no good jobs to pay for them. Be careful what you wish for.

Closer to the mark than some of the analysis I've seen in this thread.

I grew up like many. Sears mail order was one of the main ways to shop in our small town. I remember the excitement when the Sears Christmas Catalog showed up and going through the pages circling all of the toys I knew I wouldn't get in a million years. I still have a Made In USA Socket Set from them I bought almost 20yrs ago and can't believe I've only lost one socket from it.

Sears, JC Penny, Montgomery Ward and stores like them just can not find a business model that works in a changing society where you can get anything you want with a click of the button delivered to your door and the ability to hop in a car and drive 50 miles (for most of America) and go shopping. The world changes and the retail environment does too.

[Elkins45]

When I landed a brief white collar job with a big corporation, Sears was the place I went to buy a week’s worth of “grown up” clothes. This was in the early 80s.

I own an awful lot of stuff that says Craftsman or Kenmore on it. I thought I had really hit the big time when I replaced my no-name hand tools with Craftsman. I still have my copy of the last big Wish Book they published. My dad thought Sears and Montgomery Ward were great American institutions and there’s still a Wards branded tiller out in the barn somewhere that would probably fire right up if I needed it.

Mitt Romney took a lot of grief for saying that corporations are people, but in this case it’s sadly too accurate. You watch them grow up, get old and then get feeble and die. Watching Sears go downhill has been like watching a grandparent in decline. By the time the end comes they are barely a shell of what they were when they were young and vital.

They sold the Craftsman name and now you can find them in Lowe’s and Ace Hardware. So at least if I ever break any of my American made tools I can trade them for Chinese made tools.

[GregLaROCHE]

I started boating with my father and his old Sears Water Witch outboard engine. Later in life I bought a five horse outboard from them in the early seventies. It served me well. My toolbox used to be filled with craftsman tools.

[slim1836]

Stopped at Lowes yesterday and they had Craftsmen tool boxes for sale.

Slim