http://ktla.com/2017/03/22/sears-has-substantial-doubt-that-it-will-stay-in-business/ HYPERLINK has full story snip Sears Holdings, the holding company for the two iconic retail brands, warned investors late Tuesday that it can’t promise it will stay in business. It included the language in its annual report while insisting it might still turn things around. “Our historical operating results indicate substantial doubt exists related to the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” said the statement. Sears Holdings said it can’t be sure it can raise the cash it needs through loans and debt financing. The company owes $4.2 billion, up from about $3 billion a year ago. The company lost $2.2 billion in the fiscal year ending in January and has not turned an annual profit since 2010. Its losses since then total $10.4 billion. end snip A once great icon may soon disappear from the landscape. KMart will also go away if that is the end result. Yes our buying habits have changed and Sears/Kmart did not find a way to attract/retain consumers. There are a lot of employees who could be hitting the bricks as the bubble begins to burst that was created by artificially low interest rates and regulations which resulted in min wage jobs being the majority of "jobs added" We as a nation need to embrace a complete change in how business was viewed and demonized in the recent past and promote a business-friendly environment so our friends/family/neighbors and perhaps ourselves can benefit from a robust, market-driven economy.
the retail industry is undergoing another change..It is not from demonizing but by online sales that have increased while brick and mortar stores have declined....I gave up on Sears in the 1990's...Their products were substandard and their customer service was infuriating and unhelpful...K-Mart died in Rogers , Arkanass due to Sam Walton, but the store in Springdale was always out of sale items and was ran by a skeleton crew....
I think Sears already sold them to Black and Decker or someone like that. Either way, sounds like maybe they want to drive down share price to invite a takeover.
to whom were you addresing that, to the guy (me) who wrote Sears/Kmart within my comment which denotes they are associated? Or, to anyone who does not read the link where the 2 "iconic brands" are listed?
yup and B+D announced a manufacturing plant in the USA. If you compare the Craftsman hand tools from even 5 years ago to what is sold today you can see that it's now Chinese junk. You may as well go to Harbor Freight and get the same quality for half the price. I always viewed Craftsman tools as an alternative for enthusiasts who didn't want to pay MAC or Snap-On prices but needed good quality but not professional grade. The Kenmore brand tends to be re-branded Whirlpool or Frigidaire.
or Daewoo..Made in Korea, by Whirlpool...The Crosley line..I stopped buying Craftsman when they refused to replace tools..
Please quit reminding us how difficult our task is with those of you in left field. Like trying to teach a mule how to count.
I went to the barn yesterday and ask the horse if he needed more oats, he raised his tail and murmured, "a few"..
I'm just curious why sec isn't blaming this corporate failure on the sitting president as he did with every factory that shut down while Obama was president?
Unbelievable. Sears has been on the resuscitator for years. They never evolved. Amazon is killing it out there, and they make it easy with their 7 days a week shipping policy. On the flip side of that, Ace Hardware franchises are still a force in my neck of the country. A lot of people are willing to pay a little more for quality tools and hardware to get some customer service and advice for DIY.
first, you need to quote me if you really wanted a response next- I absolutely blamed policies and will continue to blame policies until they are fixed. You can't force behavior upon consumers but govt can create a business-friendly environment so more opportunities for folks are out there other than part-time, foodservice jobs which were the majority of jobs created the past years
But as we all have learned from the last several years of sec's posts, anytime a company goes out of business or a factory shuts down, the sitting president is directly responsible for it.
This is sad. I don't shop at Sears except to buy appliances. I was in one of their stores in Dallas last month and it was very nice, but there were very few customers.
I haven't visited a sears in a year, bought some jeans. K-Mart? Easily 3 years since i've been inside a store, I think the one down the street has been having a closeout sale for about 8 months now.
Brick and mortar retail stores have been going the way of the dodo for at least the last decade. Some of them have managed to hold on pretty well while others have faded away, but this isn't really much of a surprise considering how successful online shopping has become with companies such as Amazon that literally sell everything at better pricing (usually) than stores like Sears, K-Mart, Circuit City, etc.
Oh I know. I still have some of my grandfather's old school 60's-70's craftsman power tools. They still work, are all metal, and weigh like 500 pounds each. The sparks that fly out of them are a nice light show I seldom use most of them but that circular saw is still the bomb. The extra weight and extra power allows you to cut a much straighter line and faster than a lot of this garbage they have now.
It'll be a sad day when Sears closes. I remember going there a lot with my family as a kid. The couple of stores left here in Calgary are pretty run down and only really draw the older crowd.
Well most Kenmore products are re-branded Whirlpool or GE products. Kenmore is not a brand on it's own, it's a store-brand, and it's products are produced by other manufacturers.
Agreed. I've always liked Sears, mostly for the Craftsman products. I own quite a few USA Craftsman tools and they still hold up very well. The Chinese Craftsman stuff isn't comparable, but thankfully they still made some of their stuff in the US.