Wall Street speculators had little to do with the demise of Sears. There are other problems:
Competition in the marketplace is one. Stores like WalMart, Target, Lowes, and Home Depot figured out how to sell similar goods at lower prices.
On line stores provide goods at attractive prices without leaving home. I bought my wife a photo printer for Christmas. I bought it at Best Buy, but they do not sell it in any of the local stores. They do sell it on line, though.
It is ironic that a company that began as a mail order store is being put out of business by todayâs equivalent.
Sears had the model for mail order years ago, they knew how to process a mail order and ship it better than anyone. they nailed catalog, inventory and shipping. The market shifted in the 60âs through the 80âs to big brick and mortar stores. With the internet kicking in the 90âs, all Sears had to do was dust off the old model changing the incoming from mail to internet and put the catalog on line. If they did that they would be the king of online retail. Lesson for us, keep an open mind for new ideas and ways to do things. Sometimes the old ways are solid and proven, sometimes we have to be willing to throw off the old paradigms and rethink how to solve a problem
Todayâs internet has a big advantage over the mail order catalog in that prices on an internet sight can easily be changed. An item that has gone out of production can be removed from the website. Thatâs not possible with a catalog that comes out twice a year.
It depends on the appliance. Some are made by Bosch or Electrolux.
Craftsman hand tools use to be made in the US. But that changed about 10 years ago (maybe longer). Most of my Craftsman tools were made long before that.
Their power tools have changed hands many times over the years. I have a Sears drill thatâs older then me which was made by Rockwell. Still works fine. For a while many of their power tools were made by the old Singer Sewing machine company. There are better power tool values from other manufacturers these days. Hand tools are still a decent deal (if bought on sale).
Thatâs true, Sears was always a retailer never a manufacturer. They did, however, have sufficient purchasing power to demand that the stuff they sold wasnât junk. And to have their appliances and tools âbrandedâ. I believe their downfall was their failure to adapt to changing consumer behaviors and changes in societal structures. Their success was based largely on their ability to offer product to rural areas in an era before a good national highway system and good over-the-road transportation was available. But with the modernization of transportation/shipping infrastructures and methods, the development of shopping malls, the evolution of automobiles and the highway system allowing rural folk to access the malls, and eventually the internet, Sears never adapted. Companies that donât adapt eventually falter.
There were many special features that Kenmore appliances had that wasnât in the other brands (even the one that made them for Kenmore). Kenmore had enough clout to demand a certain feature be only in their brand for a period of 5 years. Kenmore was decent quality. But most appliances are no were near the quality they use to be. Most of the brands are made by only a handful of manufacturers.
One of the Sears stores local to me is closing. Big 10-50% off closeout sale (which of course is BS because the liquidation company comes in, raises prices 20-60%, and then lowers them 10-50% ). But I went anyway just to see. They were selling Kenmore appliances for full price.
So⊠Lemme get this straight. Sears is teetering on the brink, and theyâre selling Kenmore and itâs guaranteed that as part of that sale the buyer will not assume warranty responsibilities, which means I am now buying a refrigerator with no warranty for 3 grand?
Laughable.
They did have a decent deal on a very nice 52" rolling tool chest. $1,000 for both, down from $1,500. If I didnât already have one Iâd have been tempted. I like the integrated power strips that are coming in the new ones now - would be handy to be able to put all my battery chargers under the top lid.
Maybe it doesnât make any difference as to who makes what these days or where it is made. We are a throw away society anyway. Even Consumer Reports had an article as to whether or not to fix or replace a broken appliance, mower etc. Our equipment is way beyond the age limit where CR recommends to replace rather than repair.
How much business has Sears lost to sales tax? The publicâs aversion to sales tax has become quite emotional. So what happens when sales tax is added to Amazon purchases?
It is already happening and has been for a while. If what you order from Amazon is in their local distribution center you pay tax. If it comes from out of state, no tax. I order a lot of odd stuff from Amazon not normally stocked in-state and pay sales taxes about 1/3 the time.
Honestly I donât think the lack of sales tax is the driving factor in online shopping anymore - Amazon has had a physical presence in my state for a good while now, which means we do pay sales tax on Amazon orders, and theyâre still doing tons of business here. I think itâs more than you can order anything you want while sitting in your underwear in the recliner.
If I wake up on Saturday and I need to get a case of motor oil, eggs, garden seeds, a pair of jeans, and a ceiling fan I have to get dressed and drive to 4 or 5 different stores⊠Or I can have a second cup of coffee and get everything from Amazon, and it will be delivered to my door within 2 hours by a smiling guy who isnât even allowed to take tips.
Local stores are already so cheap that I donât think people really balk at a few extra bucks in taxes, but in their drive to be as cheap as possible, local stores have gotten rid of the service and expertise that made it worth going there over ordering from Amazon.
The teenager at my local parts store doesnât even know what a distributor is, so why would I bother going all the way over there when I can get the same level of knowledge (namely, nothing) and have my parts in about the same time frame from Amazon? Or better yet, the same parts for much cheaper from Rockauto?
On the other hand, the guys at my local liquor store know booze backwards and forwards, tip me off on interesting beers and spirits (they have my undying gratitude for telling me about Foundersâ Backwoods Bastard, which btw is out now and you should try it ), and have helped me discover a lot of things that I never knew before. I always make the trip over there even though I could probably get it cheaper and more conveniently by ordering online, but the service makes it worth it.
Maybe buying habits are different in a small rural town where the sales tax is 7% @MikeInNH and no doubt Sears was on the decline here before Amazon became a threat but the friends I have who frequently buy on line are loudly opposed to paying sales tax on their purchases.
FWIW I worked at the local Sears store for a year while in high school. I was in the catalog sales department during Christmas and business was good. A great many popular gift items were sold out weeks before the big day.
Sears may end up going to on line sales only as time goes on. I think it will be a long time before they shut down all their stores, at least 10 years. I prefer being able to reach out and touch someone when I need service, and I like to see the goods before I buy them. That is especially true for big ticket items like major appliances. We bought a clothes washer last year and looked at a big box retailer, a local appliance store and Sears. There was an identical Kenmore, but we bought the name brand because it was on sale while the Kenmore was not. The appliance store carried the same item, too, but not at the excellent price we paid at Sears.
What can I say? Not having studied all the responses, my own opinion is that âCraftsmanâ was just a name anymore and not much else. It did not stand for quality but rather difficulty getting parts if you owned a Craftsman product. Stanley can only water down its own brand even further by buying this name. Just like B&D and even Dewalt and Porter Cable. What you used to be able to depend on a name for quality, they are all suspect and owned by the same equity group. Some made in China and some in Mexico but you just canât depend on the quality anymore.
As far as bare shelves on stores being shuttered, a lot of the merchandise has been sold off already to disposal companies and whatâs left on the shelves is the junk they didnât want to ship off. I remember going through this when Builderâs Square went out of business. I wanted to buy a wire feed welder at discount but every one was missing the torch. The torch was worth more than the welder itself and the guy left in the store said the inventory buyers had taken them all right away and left the welders.
Something wrong here folks but hopefully the ship will be coming back upright again no thanks to private equity companies.
). But I went anyway just to see. They were selling Kenmore appliances for full price.