When does Sears close all stores - Poll

[Lakewood90712]

Vote Now

 

[W2R]

Well, I have NO clue - - didn't Google it. Our local Sears and K-mart are just about history (sad!) so I voted 2019 q2, but that is a wild uninformed guess.

Edited to add: I Googled it briefly and apparently there has been a takeover bid, so 425 stores might remain open indefinitely if approved. Unfortunately those 425 stores do not include the K-Mart and Sears closest to us, which are supposed to close in March and are having liquidation sales. Oh Well.

 

[Walt34]

I haven't the foggiest idea so just randomly picked Q3 2019. The Sears store closest to us closed several years ago and for a few years before that I wondered how they kept the lights on, let alone paid employees.

It is sad because for a long time they had quality merchandise for a reasonable price. I have lots of Craftsman tools bought back when they were good tools.

 

[aja8888]

My guess is the end of 2020.

 

[Nick12]

Need to start returning craftsman tools that have lifetime warranty and get new ones.

 

[timo2]

It is just amazing how Eddie Lampert has almost single-handily scammed everyone to make himself more money. Jaw dropping actually. I've been following the Sears saga for quite a while, and it clearly is a scam run by Lampert for his own benefit.

 

[RunningBum]

Need to start returning craftsman tools that have lifetime warranty and get new ones.

Not necessarily. The older ones are probably built better and will still outlast the newer.

 

[ERD50]

My guess is the end of 2020.

My guess is, all Sears stores will be closed before Tesla ships a $35,000 Model 3.

-ERD50

 

[timo2]

Need to start returning craftsman tools that have lifetime warranty and get new ones.

Those old ones you have might be worth something. Apparently the newer craftsman are cr*p. Just an imperfectly worded internet search turned up a lot of negative comments on the newer ones. Here is one example. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/craftsman-tools-today.64454/

 

[Red Badger]

Arbitrarily chose Q4, 2019.

But I picked up (at Sears) a nice $50 Outdoor Life jacket today for $22.

 

[imoldernu]

The PBGC is suing Lampert for 1.4 Billion... the amount of the shortage in the Sears Pension Fund. Who knows what this means?

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Need to start returning craftsman tools that have lifetime warranty and get new ones.

Stanley Black and Decker now owns the Craftsman name.

 

[ERD50]

The PBGC is suing Lampert for 1.4 Billion... the amount of the shortage in the Sears Pension Fund. Who knows what this means?

I found this:

https://www.retaildive.com/news/federal-pension-agency-sues-sears-to-take-over-pensions/547546/

Not clear they are suing Lampert, looks to me like they are suing Sears. Basically, looks like PBGC is saying that Sears did not fund the plan per a 2016 agreement?

PBGC has friends in high places, they carry a big club.

-ERD50

 

[MichaelB]

I found this:

https://www.retaildive.com/news/federal-pension-agency-sues-sears-to-take-over-pensions/547546/

Not clear they are suing Lampert, looks to me like they are suing Sears. Basically, looks like PBGC is saying that Sears did not fund the plan per a 2016 agreement?

PBGC has friends in high places, they carry a big club.

-ERD50

Definitely suing Sears. I believe the PBGC objects to the terms offered to “rescue” the bankruptcy, as they negate some of the $1.4B obligations agreed in the link you referenced.

 

[imoldernu]

sorry .. I equate Lampert with ESL, and see the $$$ as a loss to ESL.

 

[Jerry1]

It is just amazing how Eddie Lampert has almost single-handily scammed everyone to make himself more money. Jaw dropping actually. I've been following the Sears saga for quite a while, and it clearly is a scam run by Lampert for his own benefit.

Do you have an idea of how he’s profiting from this? I generally agree with your sentiment, but I can’t see how he profiting. All I see is how he or his hedge fund are pouring billions of dollars into a lost cause. At a minimum, I think he took a great name and wasted it, but I can’t figure out what’s in this for him without it actually being successful.

 

[timo2]

Do you have an idea of how he’s profiting from this? I generally agree with your sentiment, but I can’t see how he profiting. All I see is how he or his hedge fund are pouring billions of dollars into a lost cause. At a minimum, I think he took a great name and wasted it, but I can’t figure out what’s in this for him without it actually being successful.

The only article I could quickly find was one in the Guardian, maybe not the best choice, but the factual parts of the article correspond to what I have read previously, which in a nutshell, is Lampert has been robbing Sears blind.

from the article "As Sears’ CEO, chairman, banker, landlord and transaction partner, Lampert has managed to transfer many of Sears’ assets to himself and sell off others.

In 2015, he sold the real estate of more than 250 Sears retail stores and other company property to real estate investment fund, Seritage Properties, which is 43.5% owned by Lampert’s hedge fund. Sears has paid the fund an annual rent of $134m, with 2% annual increases starting in 2017. As Lampert’s hedge fund extended credit to Sears backed by at least 46 Sears properties, Lampert could receive the rights to those properties in the bankruptcy proceedings.

In 2014, Lampert sold off Sears’ profitable clothing company Land’s End to himself as the principal shareholder. In January 2017, Lampert finalized a deal to sell Sears’ Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker for $900m, which was used to pay off Sears’ creditors, Lampert included."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/01/sears-workers-kmart-retail-eddie-lampert

 

[HI Bill]

It is just amazing how Eddie Lampert has almost single-handily scammed everyone to make himself more money. Jaw dropping actually. I've been following the Sears saga for quite a while, and it clearly is a scam run by Lampert for his own benefit.

After I saw how they killed CompUSA, I'm not surprised....except how gullible people were about Eddie's intentions!

 

[RunningBum]

That's what I understand. He's in it for the Sears real estate. He loans them money, gets it guaranteed with the hard real estate assets, and when Sears goes under he'll get the real estate, cheap. So I think he's actually more motivated to let Sears go under than have them succeed, but he doesn't lose either way.

 

[MBAustin]

I didn't vote because my answer isn't there "Not soon enough"

To me it's a textbook example of greedy management running a good company into the ground.

 

[timo2]

I didn't vote because my answer isn't there "Not soon enough"

To me it's a textbook example of greedy management running a good company into the ground.

It appears to me more than mere greed. I believe it was a purposeful scam from start, when Kmart and Sears merged.

 

[Lakewood90712]

I didn't vote because my answer isn't there "Not soon enough"

I'd add it if I could edit the poll.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Maybe Al could write a book, purely fictional of course, about an Evil Vampire Hedge Fund Manager who sucks the blood out of companies and turns the carcasses into Zombie stores.

 

[REWahoo]

I didn't vote because my answer isn't there "Not soon enough"

I was disappointed to see "Sears is still open?" wasn't there either.

 

[samclem]

Our local Sears (an anchor in the nearby mall) is now shuttered, but they are turning the downstairs into a big entertainment complex (bowling, ping-pong, darts, drinks, food, etc). The upstairs will be a big furniture store (kinda like a "Rooms-2-go).

I miss what Sears used to be, but this local conversion is not the worst possible outcome. I hope it succeeds. Another department store in the same mall is also shuttered, and I can't see how JCP is still afloat (like we all said about Radio Shack for about a decade. A classic piece from The Onion).