We went inside a Sears and saw why the company is dying

[JustPassinThru]

There Sears catalog was a big deal when we were growing up, especially around the holidays.  What kid did not pour through the giant phone-book sized full color catalog to drool over the toy offerings and point them out to relatives as the things we wanted under our tree in the 4 months or so after that catalog would come out?

Sears Catalog had that brand identifier nailed down solid with several generations by the time internet sales began in earnest.  The hard part was done in terms of branding and getting name recognition. All they had to do was follow the same idea that the catalog stood for - and do online sales - calling itself "The Sears Catalog".  I'm not talking about a catalog retailer like Service Merchandise, but simply take the concept of catalog sales and turn it into what became Amazon today.    I would think that was a much better risk to recapturing market share than to go and buy a dying brick and mortar discount retailer to challenge Walmart.  That failed, and so too did Sears itself.

Yup, they blew it.

Their people probably thought the Internet would be a novelty, like fax machines; and wouldn't affect their business one iota.  In retrospect that seems ridiculously foolish, but who among us saw this online-sales movement coming?  After all, television infomercial sales, and QVC and The Jewelry Channel, were only getting senile widows and people with stolen credit cards.  Not really a lot of volume in that.

Yes, it seems a missed call big-time; but Sears' people were suffering from their own Normalcy Bias.  They knew retailing.  They knew retailing because they WERE...THE retailer.  This computer thing is just a fad...the mall stores, those are the thing.

This, following on the heels of IBM's own people pooh-poohing the idea that everyone would have a computer.  One of their people said, most people would have "no use" for a home computer; and that's why they pulled their PC model off the market and licensed their design architecture and the DOS system.

Plenty of bad calls on the future are made, all the time.

[r9etb]

Their people probably thought the Internet would be a novelty, like fax machines; and wouldn't affect their business one iota.  In retrospect that seems ridiculously foolish, but who among us saw this online-sales movement coming? 

Bill Gates did, for one -- way before AOL came along he was talking about the sort of on-line marketplace we take for granted today.

[JustPassinThru]

Bill Gates did, for one -- way before AOL came along he was talking about the sort of on-line marketplace we take for granted today.

True.  He bet the opposite way.

How many losing bets do various people, big or small, make?  Remember Pets.com?  Big Internet startup.  Great idea.  Gone, along with the seed capital, in 15 months.

Gates, a kid in a garage, bet that PCs and DOS would be big things.  IBM, with their Selectric models and fax machines and mainframe computers that sold for six figures...bet it would not.

Gates was right, but that was not a given, either.  Gates has been wrong a LOT.  Windows today is all wrong, when a light, tight OS like the one I'm using is one-tenth the size, and free.

[GtHawk]

When Sears gave into the mob and dropped Ivanka Trumps line they pissed off most of their customer base. Sears is done.

They pissed off Hispanics? I don't think so. I bet the only things 90% of White folks still went to Sears for was Craftsman for the men and Kenmore for the women, otherwise there wasn't a damn thing you couldn't find better and cheaper, and over the last few years that included the tools and the appliances they never made anyway. I really believe you all over estimate the effect of these Trump brands being dropped on everyone but zealots.

[Applewood]

Sears was dying long long before Trump.

I concur.  Their own brands like Kenmore or Craftsman outperformed the name brands.  Now Sears brands suck.

Brick and mortar retailers are all feeling the pinch.  People just don't want to go to a store to buy things.   Easier to just sit in their jammies and order online.   And the malls are unsafe, at least the ones where I live.

[r9etb]

Brick and mortar retailers are all feeling the pinch.  People just don't want to go to a store to buy things.   Easier to just sit in their jammies and order online.   And the malls are unsafe, at least the ones where I live.

Still, there's something about a hardware store, or even a big-box place like Lowe's....  My kids say it's one of their fondest memories.

[JustPassinThru]

Still, there's something about a hardware store, or even a big-box place like Lowe's....  My kids say it's one of their fondest memories.

Yes.  And hardware will never be sold out of Amazon, not in volume.

For much the same reason that Pets.com couldn't sell cat litter online - the cost of shipping heavy material.  Plus...when I go to a hardware store it's usually with pieces of a project in my hands.  I'm looking for a fastener or a cutting tool or clamp or paint or coating or something.

While Sears is going away, Ace Hardware has moved out of its storefront and is becoming almost a big-box store itself.  With much the traditional hardware-store flavor.

There's always room for the right idea, the better idea.

[Smokin Joe]

Still, there's something about a hardware store, or even a big-box place like Lowe's....  My kids say it's one of their fondest memories.

When I was a kid, when we went to town to do the back to school shopping, it was a real treat to go to the Toys 'R' Us... For a kid it was like walking into a Sears Christmas Wish Book...

But the local stores are the ones I remember best, with penny candy and dime cokes. Lunch counters at the Woolworth's or the Drug Store... A different America.

[bigheadfred]

I worked part time in a Sears catalog outlet 40 years ago. All items in there were display only. People came in and ordered stuff out of the catalog. I did the free assembly--bikes, mowers, etc. Many people brought their catalogs with them.

[bigheadfred]

I concur.  Their own brands like Kenmore or Craftsman outperformed the name brands.  Now Sears brands suck.

Brick and mortar retailers are all feeling the pinch.  People just don't want to go to a store to buy things.   Easier to just sit in their jammies and order online.   And the malls are unsafe, at least the ones where I live.

Aren't many name brand appliances made in the same factory  now anyway?

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I worked part time in a Sears catalog outlet 40 years ago. All items in there were display only. People came in and ordered stuff out of the catalog. I did the free assembly--bikes, mowers, etc. Many people brought their catalogs with them.

One of my early jobs was working at a Sears repair center, we took in vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, that sort of thing.


Ah to be young and stupid again.

[bigheadfred]

One of my early jobs was working at a Sears repair center, we took in vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, that sort of thing.


Ah to be young and stupid again.

There is that saying, something like "I'm glad I grew up in the seventies because there is no record of all the stupid things I've done".

[Applewood]

One of my early jobs was working at a Sears repair center, we took in vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, that sort of thing.


Ah to be young and stupid again.

Well, I was young and stupid.  Now I'm just OLD and stupid. LOL

Sears had a motto :  "We service what we sell."

Well, not necessarily.   

My parents had a washer/dryer set from Sears that was more than 20 years old.  Dad wanted to fix the dryer himself, so he went to the nearest Sears repair center (the repair center would sell you parts if you wanted to DIY).  The guy at the repair center told Dad they only had parts for and repaired items that were less than five years old.  Anything older -- you were out of luck.

Someone told Dad about a shop that sold parts for anything and everything.  This shop took old appliances and salvaged any usable parts. Turned out this shop had what Dad was looking for.   Dad repaired the dryer and the washer/dryer lasted another 10 years.

[Fishrrman]

JustPassin' wrote:
"While Sears is going away, Ace Hardware has moved out of its storefront and is becoming almost a big-box store itself.  With much the traditional hardware-store flavor."

If you're ever in the central Pennsylvania area, a great hardware/general store to visit is Hilsher's General Store:
http://www.hilshersstore.com/about-us/

It's in Port Treverton (north of Harrisburg, south of Selinsgrove), just off Routes 11/15.

They even have a small restaurant with homemade stuff, too.
The place is up-to-date, but retains an old-time atmosphere...

[IsailedawayfromFR]

While Sears is going away, Ace Hardware has moved out of its storefront and is becoming almost a big-box store itself.  With much the traditional hardware-store flavor.

There's always room for the right idea, the better idea.

I went into an Ace Hardware in a town recently that was part of a grocery store.

You could wander up an aisle looking at tools before you shopped for milk.

I thought it was neat.

[Ancient]

Sears has been in a death spiral since Sears Roebuck & Company sold itself to Kmart Holdings...which renamed itself Sears Holdings.

It was about that time that my family stopped supporting Sears.  Before that, we had Kenmore appliances and my kids wore sears clothes.  Our sears card had the label "Best customer" and they treated us like that... until..  We had a bonus, initially decided to pay down our sears credit card... then changed our mind and wanted a lawn mower.  Went into sears, picked it out and got turned down.  They had lowered our credit limit after we paid down the card.  They had a new finance division and they didn't care about 10 years of paying sears on time.

We bought the lawnmower across the street at a hardware store and going forward Sears got only a small fraction of what they used to get from us.  The way you treat people matters, and making political statements that I disagree with is most certain something that will shape where I do business with.

[JustPassinThru]

Aren't many name brand appliances made in the same factory  now anyway?

Yup.

MTD makes basically all the lawnmowers, cheap power yard tools, cheap riding lawnmowers and cheap push mowers, in the country.  They own the White, Troy-Bilt, Yard Machines and Cub Cadet brands...all the same crap.

And it is crap.  American made, last time I checked...but CRAP.

[geronl]

color palette that ranged from gopher puke green to baby scat brown

You should work for Crayola, naming the colors.

[geronl]

I went into an Ace Hardware in a town recently that was part of a grocery store.

You could wander up an aisle looking at tools before you shopped for milk.

I thought it was neat.

Sounds like a place where men do the grocery shopping... bread, milk, bolt cutter, pork chops, potato chips, fence post-hole digger....

[r9etb]

Sounds like a place where men do the grocery shopping... bread, milk, bolt cutter, pork chops, potato chips, fence post-hole digger....

Imagine the product placement possibilities!

Wife:  "Who would put the chainsaws over by the beer?"

Husband:  (raises hand)

[JustPassinThru]

Imagine the product placement possibilities!

Wife:  "Who would put the chainsaws over by the beer?"

Husband:  (raises hand)

 

[EC]

Tampons in the fishing gear aisle?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Sounds like a place where men do the grocery shopping... bread, milk, bolt cutter, pork chops, potato chips, fence post-hole digger....

Yes, I would not mind going to get groceries if I lived by one.


Apparently, they partner with independent grocers.
Ace Hardware’s Big Growth Plans Include Retail Grocery Component
http://www.theshelbyreport.com/2014/04/17/ace-hardwares-big-growth-plans-include-retail-grocery-component/

[bigheadfred]

I went into an Ace Hardware in a town recently that was part of a grocery store.

You could wander up an aisle looking at tools before you shopped for milk.

I thought it was neat.

A redux of the General Store. Next thing you know there will be people who think they can open specialties stores and there will be mini malls everywhere.

[libertybele]

I concur.  Their own brands like Kenmore or Craftsman outperformed the name brands.  Now Sears brands suck.

Brick and mortar retailers are all feeling the pinch.  People just don't want to go to a store to buy things.   Easier to just sit in their jammies and order online.   And the malls are unsafe, at least the ones where I live.

Yes indeed brick and mortar are feeling the pinch, and I agree it was easier to do some Xmas shopping on line in my pj's.  This was the first year I did the majority of my shopping on line (I have 6 grandchildren,  1 great grand child, plus 2 grown children and their spouses and my hubbby to buy for) all in all on-line ordering turned out to be a disaster. Let's see ... where do I start ... I bought an American doll at Toys R us and wanted accessories ... the accessories weren't available in the store so I ordered on line before Thanksgiving, items were back ordered and I got the final piece 2 days before xmas; in the meantime they fed'xd another one to me, but charged me and I had to fight to get the charge reversed.  Let's see ... Gamestop ... Nintendo consoles were difficult to find this year ... I ordered one on-line and the order was lost in a UPS hub for 2 weeks; I was sweating it because I ordered games to go with but didn't have a console and ALL consoles were sold out...it finally arrived 2 days before xmas... I spent hours trying to locate the lost shipment.  I pre-ordered a Nintendo 3ds from Walmart also before Thanksgiving and it arrived just 2 days before xmas.  I ordered a 7lb. ham from the Honey Baked Ham company and they sent me 2 10 lb. hams ... I called them and they said to keep it and they would credit my card for the 2nd one -- that deal worked out for my neighbor as I gave them the extra ham.  Amazon -- sent me 2 backpacks and I only ordered 1...had to return to the post office and wait for the credit.

All in all folks ... yes ordering in your pj's is easier but it was a hassle and very time consuming (being placed on hold forever) checking on where the heck the items were on a daily basis; calling on shipping and item errors,  having to run to the post office to return items was a hassle and calling to see why my credit card hadn't been credited took time as well. 

On-line shopping during the holiday totally blew chunks.  It would have been easier, less stressful and less time consuming for me to go to the store. I would much rather shop at my local brick and mortar retailer ... go in, purchase the item and voila ... I'm done!  No waiting for weeks on end to get the item, no having to place phone calls to check into lost items, no having to wait while on hold for hours  (accumulative) for on-line mistakes and no having to run to the post office for returns.