Thread regarding Sears layoffs

Both of these stores were losers and needed each other to survive and that's pretty much it. Sears being an ancient relic of the past and couldn't get any of the cooler and hipper companies to come rescue them. Enter Kmart which for sure wasn't a cool kid, more like a middle-aged person trying to be cool and fooling no one.

It's like we are fighting over who caused the marriage to end. Both Sears and Kmart did. Sears was a huge, complicated, dinosaur mess that was unwilling to adapt. Kmart was run by incompetent idiots, and lacked the capital to transform by itself. They both s---ed.

Not really. The names aren't as valuable as Sears likes to think in their corporate balance statements, but they do still have value. Expensive high-tech Kenmore appliances are now even available through Amazon, remember.

The Sears and Kenmore names mean outdated sh-- to most of the public.

The Sears brand has always had more value and assets. Kmart was already lagging behind Walmart. Hence why the company took the Sears name to Sears Holdings. Kmart became the red headed step child. Sears still has divisions that can still be profitable. Such as Auto, Home Services and even Kenmore. Kmart has nothing to offer. It’s so bad that now Sears is carrying the merchandise that Kmart can’t move meanwhile Kmarts are loaded with paper towels and plastic bins in every department. You are better off going to the dollar store. At the end of the day, eventually it’s all going down.

@tbu I think "The face that even now the registers are integrated in that Brooklyn Kmart/sears says it all." was supposed to say "The fact that even now the registers are NOT integrated in that Brooklyn Kmart/sears says it all."

Yes Kmart would of been better without old and outdated Sears. Kmart would of prospered way better if Sears had not dragged Kmart down the drain with them.

Not sure why providing became prouting.

Sears was prouting profits year after year. The primary profit engine was Sears Credit, which was sold in 2004, prior to the merger, but even without that, the company was producing hundreds of millions in the black.

Kmart, on the other hand, was bankrupt, due to mismanagement by CEO Chuck Conaway. Eddie got control of Kmart by buying the debt, then leveraged the assets of Kmart and his hedge fund to buy Sears. That’s when it started to unravel.

Eddie was using the combined companies as an ATM, extracting working capital, then assets, to raise the stock price, to provide lift to his hedge fund. Eddie's primary interest is not in maintaining these businesses, but in growing his fund.

But to reiterate, Kmart was broke. Sears was heading down that path due to bad management. But Sears would probably have 5-10 years left if not for Eddie stripping cash for buybacks, failing to invest in stores, cheaping out everywhere he could.

The very fact is, Amazon and all etailers have 10-15% of the retail market, which is huge, but that leaves 85-90% to be served by competent bricks and mortar stores. Sears would still be a retail force, a shrinking one, but still relevant, if not for Eddie. Kmart would likely still be relevant as well if it had been bought by a competent retailer, or even Martha Stewart.

We will never know because there are so many variables. If different people were in charge of steering the direction of both stores, either individually or together, then there would be a different result. What that is, is anyone's guess.

I always thought that Sears and Kmart should have been blended together better to be one stronger company. The same company but different divisions working together which is the opposite of Lampert's strategy. The face that even now the registers are integrated in that Brooklyn Kmart/sears says it all.

Sears was almost bankrupt when Kmart bought it up all those years ago. So if you mean going bankrupt years ago would have been better, then I agree with you. rolls eyes

Not sure how that would be. Sears spent most of the 80’s and 90’s destroying their relationships with their customers and as a result their customers children who are now the core consumers.

Really, Eddies ego is the only reason this turd wasn’t flushed 10 years ago. Any sane investor would have pulled the plug a long time ago.

Yeah you posted this the other day.

Doesn't really matter at this point.