Big FCC filing yesterday stated they may no longer be viable.

No surprise to anyone.

Fast Eddie Lambert Has protected himself on the back end from the financial fallout, setting things up over the years as Sears largest creditor.

The guy destroyed an icon in 9 years.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/...y-business/99479726/

Oh the destruction started decades ago.
When Brennan ousted Dean Swift is when it started.
I worked there then and we discussed it at length with the stupid changes that were enacted.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
Big FCC filing

Typo? FCC or FTC?

Yep.

There has been some discussion in the JC Penny thread.

I worked for them as a district manager for four years...the best way to describe what Lambert did is this:

Remember in the movie Pretty Woman when Edward explains to Vivian what he does? He buys companies and sells them off, piece by piece, until nothing is left.

Lands End - sold
Die Hard - sold
Craftsman - sold
Hometown Stores - sold
Kenmore - working on it.

Zero investment in brick and mortar sites. It's all a real estate game, and every fall Lampert sells off a group of buildings (real-estate) so he can put money into an account to guarantee he can pay bills for Christmas Merchandise from vendors.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
Big FCC filing

Typo? FCC or FTC?

Typo, yes. FTC, no.


SEC.

Interesting that Sears started off as a catalog store then couldn't/wouldn't transform back into what they once were.

My Dad started with Sears back in the '50s and worked his way up in merchandise management, finally retiring in the mid-'80s. He always said that Ed Brennan---who'd ironically started out working for Sears as a teenager---started the downhill slide by sacrificing its soul, vision, and customers for dividends and the greed of the big stockholders.

I believe my Sears credit card was the first major credit card I had. I think that was 45 years ago.

I carried it for years and years.

My tires were Roadhandlers, my batteries were Diehard, my tools were Craftsman and my appliances were Kenmore.

No longer.

Mike

Sears died for me years ago. I remember when my dad would take me there on a Saturday morning to get whatever from the man sections. We would walk the tool aisles and touch everything. The store was bright and clean. The tools etc. were high quality made in America items. The staff was friendly, expeditious, helpful and there were plenty of them. The store was as busy as could be. Years later all of that changed. It is as if the thug culture swept through and left decay in its wake there too. I recently bought a new Craftsman ratchet online. I compared it to my older ratchets and the lower quality is glaring. Someone or something sucked the life out of Sears. It is just a toppling husk now. Watch for vintage Craftsman prices to skyrocket.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:
Interesting that Sears started off as a catalog store then couldn't/wouldn't transform back into what they once were.

Sears catalog might as well be used as toilet paper.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:
Interesting that Sears started off as a catalog store then couldn't/wouldn't transform back into what they once were.

That's a great point.

And I think Ronin gives a great explanation as to what happened.

Sears was also my first "credit card."

Sears passing may be unfortunate but if they can't keep up / change with the times, that's what happens. They will go by the way of Woolworth.

and the top 26 guys in the corp.
won't miss'em a bit

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
Big FCC filing

Typo? FCC or FTC?

Good catch. Fixed it.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
Big FCC filing

Typo? FCC or FTC?

Good catch. Fixed it.

Technically it's an SEC filing. You may view here.

Now this is interesting:

"In 2017, Sears launched a pilot location in San Antonio for a DieHard-branded auto service franchise, DieHard Auto Center driven by Sears Auto. The brand is intended to operate as a standalone version of the Sears Auto Center locations attached to Sears department stores; the location was chosen because it was in proximity to a Sears location that had closed."

They are trying a stand alone auto center next to a Sears store that was shut down. Wonder who came up with that plan?

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
I believe my Sears credit card was the first major credit card I had. I think that was 45 years ago.

I carried it for years and years.

My tires were Roadhandlers, my batteries were Diehard, my tools were Craftsman and my appliances were Kenmore.

No longer.

Mike

Sears card was all my Dad carried when I was kid and he owuld buy only diehard batteries based on "there's always a sears somewhere". When I was a teen and started tinkering with motorcycles and such my Dad bought me a basic set of Craftsman tools and told me to set aside some money and buy one new tool each paycheck...Great advice!

Hard to believe, but in 2007 SHLD had a stock price of $192/share, with a market cap of $28 billion

https://www.fool.com/investing...-sears-holdings.aspx

I was like the rest of you; Home covered up with Kenmore, Craftsman, diehard, clothing, bedding, towels, Ted Williams... Damn good stuff, backed up and serviced by a once great company. RIPieces.

Sears couldn't keep up. Maybe you can blame a particular person, but I'd imagine it is more complicated than that. Decades of doing things one way made it a behemoth that couldn't be turned quickly enough. The market changed and Sears didn't.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
I believe my Sears credit card was the first major credit card I had. I think that was 45 years ago.

I carried it for years and years.

My tires were Roadhandlers, my batteries were Diehard, my tools were Craftsman and my appliances were Kenmore.

No longer.

Mike

Sears was also my first credit card about 1979. Still thankful they took a chance on me.

It is still fascinating to me that a company heavily founded on mail order was unable to profit in the digital mail order world. I guess there was just too much of a time gap and the knowledgeable people were long gone.