The Briefing Room
General Category => Economy/Business => Topic started by: Weird Tolkienish Figure on February 13, 2017, 01:00:09 pm
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http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-store-edward-lampert-bankrupt-retail-2017-2?utm_content=bufferaa914&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Sears losses are mounting as the once iconic brand continues to struggle (http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1). The company announced it had a brutal holiday quarter and is planning to cut costs by $1 billion in 2017 (http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-reveals-cost-cutting-plan-as-sales-plunge-2017-2). Full year revenue is expected to fall 12% from last year to $22.1 billion. The company has been shutting stores and selling off assets (http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-is-laying-off-workers-to-stay-in-business-2017-1) to stem losses and repay debt.
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When Sears gave into the mob and dropped Ivanka Trumps line they pissed off most of their customer base. Sears is done.
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When Sears gave into the mob and dropped Ivanka Trumps line they pissed off most of their customer base. Sears is done.
Sears was dying long long before Trump.
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Sears was dying long long before Trump.
True, Amazon and Walmart. Sears couldn't compete. However they blew any chance of a comeback by giving in to the mob. I was going to buy a bunch of stuff there (selling some property) now it's Lowes or Homedepot for me.
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True, Amazon and Walmart. Sears couldn't compete. However they blew any chance of a comeback by giving in to the mob. I was going to buy a bunch of stuff there (selling some property) now it's Lowes or Homedepot for me.
No they blew it by continuing to suck.
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When Sears gave into the mob and dropped Ivanka Trumps line they pissed off most of their customer base. Sears is done.
Yes, I think they decided to just go with a quicker death, rather than postpone the suffering any longer. lol
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It's the same way with churches. When you take a political stand, you alienate half of your customers.
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No they blew it by continuing to suck.
A quip for the ages....
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Sears was dying long long before Trump.
Sears was dying 20 years ago.
Stores like Sears, JC Penny, and Wards all harmed themselves by clinging to an image that the population no longer appreciates. They all held themselves out there as the home of the finest quality at a time when the population put cheap over all other concerns. Basically they were classy stores in a world that has abandoned class.
K-Mart was at the opposite end of the scale. It was known as the place where the low income people shopped. In the 1980s the last place a teenage girl could tolerate being seen was in K-Mart. Oddly enough they succumbed to the same thing that took down classy stores like Sears. The lower classes merged with the middle classes and other stores grew to serve that wider segment.
WalMart, Meijer, Target etc are the real culprits.
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Sears was dying 20 years ago.
Stores like Sears, JC Penny, and Wards all harmed themselves by clinging to an image that the population no longer appreciates. They all held themselves out there as the home of the finest quality at a time when the population put cheap over all other concerns. Basically they were classy stores in a world that has abandoned class.
K-Mart was at the opposite end of the scale. It was known as the place where the low income people shopped. In the 1980s the last place a teenage girl could tolerate being seen was in K-Mart. Oddly enough they succumbed to the same thing that took down classy stores like Sears. The lower classes merged with the middle classes and other stores grew to serve that wider segment.
WalMart, Meijer, Target etc are the real culprits.
LOL, love the part about a teenage girl hating being seen at Kmart, very true. But what really happened is that Amazon and Walmart changed the retail model. Amazon brought us on-line shopping. Who doesn't like that? And Walmart brought us "the China" price. Who doesn't like saving a few bucks?
If Sears and other retailers had caught on in late 90s early 2000s and adopted the new retail model they might have prospered but they did not catch on until recently.
Sears had huge customer loyalty, but siding with "the mod" against Trump will IMHO prove to be suicidal.
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Sears pissed off the shadetree mechanics and DIY'ers with their changes to the Sears and Craftsman brands and their "free replacement" policy on hand tools.
Started buying garbage products from China to replace the quality products from Japan and Taiwan to sell under their Sears brand.
I bought an electricians plier with wire stripper, crimpers that was made in Japan...in 1983...still have it. I'll go to Harbor Freight and buy some one off tool on the cheap vs. paying for it at Sears.
Drill bits are garbage...dull quickly and break easily. Their quick change kits are also garbage, the drill bits come loose from their adapter and spin...
Power tools manufactured in China and sold as Craftsman.
Diehard batteries used to "die hard"...now? I've used the warranty/pro-rate on each battery that has gone into the wife's car since replacing the OEM Honda battery. 4 batteries in the space of 8 years or so. She likes them, who knows why, so that's why she still gets them.
Started hassling customers about tool replacements. I had a 1/4" drive ratchet that started to fail, instead of just telling me to get a new one off the rack, they were persistent in telling me to rebuild it myself with a kit. I am more than capable of doing so, but that's not the point. Started challenging me on worn screwdriver tips, especially Phillips/crosspoints and getting close to accusing me of abusing them. I told them the quality of the tips was garbage and had to get a manager to intervene. I paid a premium for the tool, I expect you to honor your policy.
I hate to see Sears go, but these are self-inflicted wounds...
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Sears pissed off the shadetree mechanics and DIY'ers with their changes to the Sears and Craftsman brands and their "free replacement" policy on hand tools.
Started buying garbage products from China to replace the quality products from Japan and Taiwan to sell under their Sears brand.
I bought an electricians plier with wire stripper, crimpers that was made in Japan...in 1983...still have it. I'll go to Harbor Freight and buy some one off tool on the cheap vs. paying for it at Sears.
Drill bits are garbage...dull quickly and break easily. Their quick change kits are also garbage, the drill bits come loose from their adapter and spin...
Power tools manufactured in China and sold as Craftsman.
Diehard batteries used to "die hard"...now? I've used the warranty/pro-rate on each battery that has gone into the wife's car since replacing the OEM Honda battery. 4 batteries in the space of 8 years or so. She likes them, who knows why, so that's why she still gets them.
Started hassling customers about tool replacements. I had a 1/4" drive ratchet that started to fail, instead of just telling me to get a new one off the rack, they were persistent in telling me to rebuild it myself with a kit. I am more than capable of doing so, but that's not the point. Started challenging me on worn screwdriver tips, especially Phillips/crosspoints and getting close to accusing me of abusing them. I told them the quality of the tips was garbage and had to get a manager to intervene. I paid a premium for the tool, I expect you to honor your policy.
I hate to see Sears go, but these are self-inflicted wounds...
Sears no longer even owns the trade name Craftsman!
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/09/sears-sells-craftsman-brand-fights-to-survive.aspx
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Sears no longer even owns the trade name Craftsman!
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/09/sears-sells-craftsman-brand-fights-to-survive.aspx
Well, in a way...FTA:Rather than buying Craftsman outright, Stanley Black & Decker is buying the rights to use the Craftsman brand outside of Sears-affiliated sales channels. Meanwhile, Sears Holdings will be able to continue producing and selling its own line of Craftsman-branded products in Sears and Kmart stores. Sears will start paying royalties to Stanley Black & Decker for use of the Craftsman brand after 15 years.
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Well, in a way...FTA:
Either way, as you said earlier, the brand no longer means a thing. And IMHO that is a tragedy.
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If Sears and other retailers had caught on in late 90s early 2000s and adopted the new retail model they might have prospered but they did not catch on until recently.
Sears killed it's future when it abandoned and ended it's catalog sales in 1993. They should have brought the Sears catalog back at the advent of internet sales - and perhaps they may have reclaimed it's title of retailer king instead of Amazon. But they refused and bought Kmart instead and sealed their fate.
The only Sears store within 3 hours of here is closing in April, but it has been a shell and an empty depressing place for years. Only their hardware department had any life in it. Parking lot at the end of the mall where they are anchored has been chronically empty for years. Even during the holidays.
Sears is done and has been for awhile.
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Sears was dying long long before Trump.
Exactly!
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Sears was dying 20 years ago.
Stores like Sears, JC Penny, and Wards all harmed themselves by clinging to an image that the population no longer appreciates. They all held themselves out there as the home of the finest quality at a time when the population put cheap over all other concerns. Basically they were classy stores in a world that has abandoned class.
K-Mart was at the opposite end of the scale. It was known as the place where the low income people shopped. In the 1980s the last place a teenage girl could tolerate being seen was in K-Mart. Oddly enough they succumbed to the same thing that took down classy stores like Sears. The lower classes merged with the middle classes and other stores grew to serve that wider segment.
WalMart, Meijer, Target etc are the real culprits.
What killed the local K-Mart was keeping Rosie O'Donnel as a spokesperson after she jumped Tom Selleck on her show over making an NRA ad. Selleck was there to plug a movie and she went apesh*t ranting at him and against guns.
At the time, K-mart sold more guns than any other retailer in the US. Gun owners demanded she be given the bum's rush. They kept Rosie, and gun owners boycotted. (think a boycott by 80 million people, that isn't going to end well).
The parking lot at the nearest K-Mart went from being fairly full week long to being empty. They closed a year later. I have little doubt that scene was repeated across America.
People are creatures of habit. Get them used to a new store, and they won't go in the 'old' one so much. The Wal-Mart next door was packed. (Add to that the Martha Stewart line of stuff had a color palette that ranged from gopher puke green to baby scat brown...)
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Sears was dying long long before Trump.
I'm seldom on your side, but this time you have it straight on.
Sears has been in a death spiral since Sears Roebuck & Company sold itself to Kmart Holdings...which renamed itself Sears Holdings.
Actually before; but before the sale, it was responsibly managed. Kmart, by contrast, became a plaything of one Eddie Lampert...moneychanger extraordinaire, crony bankster who decided he was a management guru.
He rode Kmart into the toilet, into Bankruptcy Court, a few years before; and somehow regained control after the crash. Used its new capitalization to buy Sears...thinking, I guess, to loot Sears' extensive cash resources and real estate.
And he has. And just as the first time round, the combined two companies are going down...down...DOWN.
Poor store management; poor inventory and product availability. Dirty outlets. Obnoxious clerks badgering customers who just want to pay. Chaotic store and lower management...fired for trivialities; often quitting in disgust.
And at heart, the same basic problem Sears had earlier: THEY HAVE NOT ADAPTED. Walmart was eating them for lunch. And FWIW, Walmart, years ago, paid MORE than Sears after Kmart took control.
Eddie Lampert knows it all; so he has changed none of his failed strategies. He runs it like a hobby, meeting his managers via Skype feeds from his Palm Beach mansion.
Sears is about at the end of its rope; and will choke and strangle this summer. Fall at the latest.
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Sears killed it's future when it abandoned and ended it's catalog sales in 1993. They should have brought the Sears catalog back at the advent of internet sales - and perhaps they may have reclaimed it's title of retailer king instead of Amazon. But they refused and bought Kmart instead and sealed their fate.
The only Sears store within 3 hours of here is closing in April, but it has been a shell and an empty depressing place for years. Only their hardware department had any life in it. Parking lot at the end of the mall where they are anchored has been chronically empty for years. Even during the holidays.
Sears is done and has been for awhile.
I could understand abandoning the catalog business, in the prism of the time...it was very, very expensive. In retrospect, it could have been a jumping-off point to an Internet portal...PDF of a catalog, then an online catalog...Sears could have out-Amazoned Amazon.
Not that that would have done much good - Amazon has never made money, even today. But Sears could at least have kept business and cash flow that way, kept itself relevant. In the early days of Amazon...Sears-versus-Amazon, both online shopping portals...that would have been a no-brainer.
But Sears was done when Sears management and owners gave up and sold the company to Kmart. They wanted out; and maybe they were right. But watching this icon of Americana crash, is beyond depressing.
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Add to that the Martha Stewart line of stuff had a color palette that ranged from gopher puke green to baby scat brown...
You know.... I thought those colors sounded familiar.
I didn't find them in my PMS color chart - but I dug up my old box of Crayola's and wouldn't you know it.... THERE THEY WERE!!!
(https://swordattheready.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/crayons.jpg)
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WalMart, Meijer, Target etc are the real culprits.
Walmart maybe, but not Target, which is dying as its Management is trying to appeal to a small transgender segment and hemorrhaging its main base.
Comparison graphic that shows particularly the respective earnings announcements from last year.
(http://i2.wp.com/www.suredividend.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wal-Mart-and-Target-Earnings-Releases.png?w=710)
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Sears was dying 20 years ago.
Stores like Sears, JC Penny, and Wards all harmed themselves by clinging to an image that the population no longer appreciates. They all held themselves out there as the home of the finest quality at a time when the population put cheap over all other concerns. Basically they were classy stores in a world that has abandoned class.
K-Mart was at the opposite end of the scale. It was known as the place where the low income people shopped. In the 1980s the last place a teenage girl could tolerate being seen was in K-Mart. Oddly enough they succumbed to the same thing that took down classy stores like Sears. The lower classes merged with the middle classes and other stores grew to serve that wider segment.
WalMart, Meijer, Target etc are the real culprits.
I disagree with this.
For openers, Kmart has been in trouble since the 1980s. They promised cheaper, but what they sold, after their initial growth period, was EXPLOITATION. I had plenty of ugly experiences with Kmart clothing and shoes and with their nasty, abusive return policy.
People were turning away; and it was that opening that Walmart dove into. They offered, initially, somewhat-better quality over Kmart; MUCH better customer relations, and better relations with their own employees. While Kmarts were getting dirtier and more disorganized, Walmart - at the time - was clean and well-stocked.
Sears didn't cut it, correct. The 1980s were the Throwaway Generation...everyone was getting richer, and didn't want to spend money until they were. It was either Neiman-Marcus or Macy's (which was still a top-tier brand, then) or a junk department store. This, too, was the era of Target...another store that was well-run in the recent past.
Now, you say, at the end, that Target and others are the real "culprits." Well...competition is a fact of life in retail, in a free economy. If a store can only survive without competition or with government or company-town protection...then it's not a going concern; it's a zombie business. Walking dead.
Kmart and Sears, together, are as good as dead. Since Boss Eddie has burned through most of their cash and resources, there's little left to use for a turnaround. The best plan would be to sell out what's left to someone who actually knows how to run retail merchandising.
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Sears killed it's future when it abandoned and ended it's catalog sales in 1993. They should have brought the Sears catalog back at the advent of internet sales - and perhaps they may have reclaimed it's title of retailer king instead of Amazon. But they refused and bought Kmart instead and sealed their fate.
The only Sears store within 3 hours of here is closing in April, but it has been a shell and an empty depressing place for years. Only their hardware department had any life in it. Parking lot at the end of the mall where they are anchored has been chronically empty for years. Even during the holidays.
Sears is done and has been for awhile.
The catalog business was really a novel idea and I agree it could have morphed into it being internet sales king.
I recall my dad dreaming about owning an Allstate, a car made by Kaiser and sold in the Sears catalog in the early 50s.
(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/18kvjxtmrp29qjpg.jpg)
A neighbor of mine owns a house that was sold by Sears in the 40s similar to below. It came in a kit and was assembled on site.
(http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1933-1940/1940_3721.jpg)
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Your dad dodged a bullet. The Kaiser Henry J, also sold as the Allstate, was not an especially good or well-made car. A Willys Jeep flathead four; and NO TRUNK.
The first years of that car, the rear section did not open. You got the spare out by pulling the back-seat back out, and crawling back in there.
Eventually, shortly before the car was killed for poor sales...they did engineer a trunk lid into it; but by that time, Sears had given up on the idea.
And why did the Kaiser company do this? GOVERNMENT MONEY. Tax breaks, specifically. Then, as now, there were bow-tie-wearing dweebs who wet the bed, working in government offices, and worried about peons driving cars that were TOO BIG.
Henry Kaiser was the original crony - he knew government business inside and out. His conglomerate was making money, even if Kaiser-Willys wasn't doing so well; so he built a car to comply, got tax breaks...and NO SALES.
That was shortly before Kaiser-Willys closed down passenger-car lines and focused on military trucks and jeeps. The popularity of the Jeep brand, began about eight years later, and was a surprise to everyone.
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The catalog business was really a novel idea and I agree it could have morphed into it being internet sales king.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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".
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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color palette that ranged from gopher puke green to baby scat brown
You should work for Crayola, naming the colors.
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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....
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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)
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Imagine the product placement possibilities!
Wife: "Who would put the chainsaws over by the beer?"
Husband: (raises hand)
:silly:
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Tampons in the fishing gear aisle?
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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/
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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.
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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.
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That's why we don't Christmas shop. ^-^
90% of the gifts we are giving are tucked away, already wrapped, in the loft by mid August. Since all our grandkids have birthdays from Jan - March (and all our kids bar 1 for that matter) any so called "Christmas must have" toy becomes a birthday present or a Befana present, since we celebrate that too.
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@libertybele
@EC
EC has the right idea. You really shouldn't do Christmas shopping too close to Christmas. After Thanksgiving up till Christmas is the prime time for things to go wrong. Yes, I know many people take advantage of Cyber Monday because that's when there are good deals. But I have found some equally good or even better deals in October.
Some companies are extremely efficient when it comes to online ordering. They can even get your gift to the recipient on Christmas Day, if need be. But the vast majority of these companies are not that efficient. Many of them hire seasonal employees who have little or no experience and these seasonal employees only get a bare minimum of training, if that. In addition, many of these seasonal employees are college kids who would rather be out partying with their friends. They do only the bare minimum of work, maybe They are just there to collect a check.
If you order your gifts before the seasonal help arrives, you have a much better chance of your purchases being correct and delivered on time.
UPS, FedX and the Post Office also hire seasonal help. They aren't any better than the ones hired by the stores. But to be fair, these delivery services have a tougher job. Not only are they deluged with Christmas gifts, they also have to make their usual deliveries. I try not to order my usual things like my prescription meds till after the holidays. These delivery services have enough on their plates.
If you are going to order close to Christmas, splurge for express delivery (2 day maybe?), if it's offered. That way you are more likely to get your order on time and you will have time to make things right if something goes wrong. Most companies have cutoff dates for the normal (often free) delivery. After that date, you have no choice and must order express or overnight delivery.
You also want to be sure you order from a company with good customer service when things go wrong. In my experience, Amazon bends over backwards to solve a problem and makes things right. Some companies, you get someone who can't speak or understand English (and I'm not talking about immigrants -- these are people born and educated in this country.) They have no comprehension of what your problem is, they make you go through hoops to return the merchandise and it's like pulling teeth to get your account credited. I once ordered something from Amazon and it was all wrong. Amazon allows you to print a return label and have the mailman or UPS come to the house to pick it up. Only...I don't have a printer. Called Amazon and explained my dilemma. The customer service person said, don't bother returning it. Give it to someone else if you like. That's what I did. And Amazon issued a credit without the return.
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When Sears gave into the mob and dropped Ivanka Trumps line they pissed off most of their customer base. Sears is done.
Seriously? Sears would lose more customers if Trumps xenophobia were given free rein than they did because they chose not to showcase her junk.
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Sears killed it's future when it abandoned and ended it's catalog sales in 1993. They should have brought the Sears catalog back at the advent of internet sales - and perhaps they may have reclaimed it's title of retailer king instead of Amazon. But they refused and bought Kmart instead and sealed their fate.
@INVAR
Yup! What could have been a more natural progression that going from a bulk catalog to a catalog on a web page? How he HELL did they miss that? They could have hired delivery drivers and been right back on top.
The only Sears store within 3 hours of here is closing in April, but it has been a shell and an empty depressing place for years. Only their hardware department had any life in it. Parking lot at the end of the mall where they are anchored has been chronically empty for years. Even during the holidays.
Which brings up another issue no one wants to mention in polite company. Many people,especially senior citizens who have been shopping at Sears for multiple decades no longer want to go shopping at a mall where they will be harassed,insulted,and maybe even assaulted and robbed by the "urban teen" (code name for you know who) thugs that hang around in them all day for no reason other than to cause someone trouble.
And that ain't even mentioning the dangerous walk out in the parking lot to try to find their car before they are robbed and murdered.
This is probably the prime reason malls are shutting down all over America.
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The catalog business was really a novel idea and I agree it could have morphed into it being internet sales king.
I recall my dad dreaming about owning an Allstate, a car made by Kaiser and sold in the Sears catalog in the early 50s.
(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/18kvjxtmrp29qjpg.jpg)
A neighbor of mine owns a house that was sold by Sears in the 40s similar to below. It came in a kit and was assembled on site.
(http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1933-1940/1940_3721.jpg)
@IsailedawayfromFR
I didn't know it was made by Kaiser. I do know it was nothing more than a Henry J with an Allstate name tag because Allstate was the trade name for Sears batteries and car parts. Every one I have ever seen came with a flathead 4 cylinder engine,but I have been told a few were made with flathead 6 engines.
Last one I remember seeing was in a junkyard about 10 years ago. No engine or trans,but a fairly straight and solid body. Somebody bought it to build into a gasser.
BTW,I know of several Sears houses still standing and looking good.
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@sneakypete
Well, my dad had 11 of us kids, so he had to start somewhere basic.
He never was able to get a new car, and I guess this was a dream to get one.
People used to dream over those catalogs.
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@sneakypete
Well, my dad had 11 of us kids, so he had to start somewhere basic.
Ok,now I understand why he wanted to buy a car that only allowed 3 passengers.
People used to dream over those catalogs.
People who have grown up in the last 40 years in the "land of time and plenty" what a milestone it was for most Americans born prior to the 1950's to buy a new car. It meant you had "arrived" as a hard-working successful adult. Nowadays high school kids get new sports cars as gifts on their 16th birthday,but it wasn't that way for previous generations.
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People who have grown up in the last 40 years in the "land of time and plenty" what a milestone it was for most Americans born prior to the 1950's to buy a new car. It meant you had "arrived" as a hard-working successful adult. Nowadays high school kids get new sports cars as gifts on their 16th birthday, but it wasn't that way for previous generations.
Amen. I grew up in the 50s and 60s. I remember Dad drove second-hand cars for most of his adult life. Couldn't afford new. It wasn't until after he retired and his children were grown and paying their own way that he bought his first new car -- a Ford Gran Torino. After he wore that out, he bought a new Pontiac Bonneville. That Bonneville was still in good condition years later when he passed on.. A relative inherited that car and drove it for several more years until it died altogether.
I never learned to drive, but my Dad did not buy my brother a car on his 16th birthday as parents do now. My brother worked till he saved enough to buy his own car. Dad taught us responsibility -- an old fashioned value the spoiled snowflakes today don't learn because their paren't don't teach it.
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I never learned to drive, but my Dad did not buy my brother a car on his 16th birthday as parents do now. My brother worked till he saved enough to buy his own car. Dad taught us responsibility -- an old fashioned value the spoiled snowflakes today don't learn because their paren't don't teach it.
Amen to that. I had to pay for my first car, a '52 Buick that my dad brought home that cost $35. Even though it did not cost much, I took care of it.
For my son's 16th birthday, I gave him a '86 Ford Stepside 4 speed stickshift with 165,000 miles.
My wife forced me to on that one, for her daddy gave her a new car on her 16th.
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Amen to that. I had to pay for my first car, a '52 Buick that my dad brought home that cost $35. Even though it did not cost much, I took care of it.
For my son's 16th birthday, I gave him a '86 Ford Stepside 4 speed stickshift with 165,000 miles.
My wife forced me to on that one, for her daddy gave her a new car on her 16th.
My dad made me buy my first vehicle. A '65 dodge pickup the forest service auctioned off. $135. And then he taught me some basic mechanics.
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My dad made me buy my first vehicle. A '65 dodge pickup the forest service auctioned off. $135. And then he taught me some basic mechanics.
The way my dad taught me mechanics was the first time I had to change the oil. He told me to be sure to change the filter too.
I spent 30 minutes trying to find it only to find him finally laughing and told me it was optional on the '52.
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The way my dad taught me mechanics was the first time I had to change the oil. He told me to be sure to change the filter too.
I spent 30 minutes trying to find it only to find him finally laughing and told me it was optional on the '52.
@IsailedawayfromFR @bigheadfred @Applewood
You guys all had it too easy. My father hated old cars,and I loved them. He sold the first two cars I bought with my own money earned working during summers to people who stopped by while I was in school,and wanted to buy them. He even kept the money for himself. "My yard,my cars,my money". The first one was when I was 13. A 1938 Chrysler I bought for 20 bucks. He wouldn't even tow it home for me. Had to get a cousin to do that and to help me get it running. Damn thing ran better than his new Ford. Even the radio played. My plan was to work summers to get the money to have it fixed up nice so I'd have something to drive when I turned 16.
The next summer it was a 40 Ford tudor sedan. Had a friend give me a rebuilt Mercury flathead to put in that one. He sold it to the junkman while I was at school.
Bought a 57 Ford tudor hardtop with a 312 after I joined the army. When I was transferred to Okinawa 2 years later I had to leave it at home because I had nowhere else. When I came back home again 2 years later,it was sitting upside down in the back yard. Somebody came by and wanted to buy the 312 engine,so he sold it to them and pulled the engine by unbolting everything and turning it upside down in the back yard to get it to drop out on the ground. That was the last one he did that with. I was pissed and told him after that if he ever pulled that crap again I would cripple him for life. Sometimes you just can't reason with people,so you have to scare them.
When I got back home from VN a couple of years later,my 60 Ford tudor was not only sitting inside the garage,the battery was still charged and the tires were holding air.
Which proves some people ARE teachable with the proper incentives.
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Sounds like a place where men do the grocery shopping... bread, milk, bolt cutter, pork chops, potato chips, fence post-hole digger....
@IsailedawayfromFR
@geronl
And the kicker is all of those things would be purchased and loaded in the car in 10 minutes.
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The catalog business was really a novel idea and I agree it could have morphed into it being internet sales king.
I recall my dad dreaming about owning an Allstate, a car made by Kaiser and sold in the Sears catalog in the early 50s.
(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/18kvjxtmrp29qjpg.jpg)
A neighbor of mine owns a house that was sold by Sears in the 40s similar to below. It came in a kit and was assembled on site.
(http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1933-1940/1940_3721.jpg)
Sears homes are gems. There are still quite a few of them around. The smaller ones have probably been mostly knocked down or renovated to the point where they're unrecognizable, but the bigger ones still survive. Some of the other catalog companies also sold kit houses.