Last Sears in Virginia to Close

[Jeweltea]

I saw an article today that the last Sears store in Virginia is going to close. I remember growing up and even in the early days of our marriage buying a lot of things from Sears.

 

[Don M.]

Virtually all of the Sears stores in Missouri have closed. All that is open are a half dozen small, locally owned, appliance stores, and a outlet store in Kansas City. All the bigger stores, mostly at shopping malls, have closed over the past couple of years. Much the same goes for KMart.

 

[Jules]

Sears Canada closed several years ago. It was always our source for appliances and often furniture. They stood by their products.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Sears Canada closed several years ago. It was always our source for appliances and often furniture. They stood by their products.

Sears, was a household name when I was growing up, and mom and dad dropped many-a dollar at the counter.

 

[Aunt Marg]

I'd like to know what's happening with the pension plan that the untold numbers of employees paid into.

Last I heard there was nothing for anyone.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Sears lost the thing that made them great. It was catalog sales. They sold anything. They were the Amazon of their day. But they became mall stores. Then they became a mall store , which was thirty years behind the times. They lost the chance to translate the catalogue business into an internet business. Sad to see the go.

 

[Jeweltea]

I'd like to know what's happening with the pension plan that the untold numbers of employees paid into.

Last I heard there was nothing for anyone.

I wonder that too. When I was young we knew someone who worked at Sears and I think it was a pretty good job then with benefits and a pension.

 

[Aunt Marg]

I wonder that too. When I was young we knew someone who worked at Sears and I think it was a pretty good job then with benefits and a pension.

The entire thing is a disgrace, Jewel.

Sears was hemorrhaging money years ago, yet the upper echelon, or as I call them, "fat cats" were raking it in. Even when yearly losses were being registered, the fat cats were still collecting on performance bonuses. Sickening.

 

[Jeweltea]

Sears lost the thing that made them great. It was catalog sales. They sold anything. They were the Amazon of their day. But they became mall stores. Then they became a mall store , which was thirty years behind the times. They lost the chance to translate the catalogue business into an internet business. Sad to see the go.

Their timing was off. I just looked it up and they stopped their catalogs in 1993 which was before most people had the internet. Malls in general were on the way out (at least here) before the pandemic and I am sure Covid has made that worse. Last time I was in a Sears store which was a few years ago, it was really sad and empty with hardly any employees or customers.

 

[JonDouglas]

Sears: Just another example of how really stupid a company's senior management can be. They were the Amazon Prime of their day (and sold just about everything, including houses) and could have been the same today had they paid more attention to their customers - what they wanted, what they were willing to pay for and how they wanted it delivered.

Edit Note: And yes, they did make fine, if somewhat ink-laden, toilet paper used in my earliest potty experiences in the outhouse behind my poor grandparents' farmhouse.