Sears can survive for a while by selling off assets , but that doesn’t increase sales. The chain has time to do that, but so far it has only shown that it can manage its declines well, not actually reverse them.
Then again, Sears might not survive at all. The company that owns Sears and Kmart filed for bankruptcy in October. It says it intends to stay in business. If Sears’ plan to survive the bankruptcy process is successful, it will have 223 Sears stores and 202 Kmart stores.
While Sears’ problems can be partially blamed on an accumulation of uncontrollable forces , including increased competition, evolving market dynamics, and changing consumer habits, three specific business failures heavily contributed to Sears’ unraveling: 1. The brand failure.
Is Sears going out of business?
Sears Holdings, which owned Sears and Kmart, went through bankruptcy less than two years ago. The company that emerged from bankruptcy came out with much less debt, but it is in a similarly weak position . Sears has flailed in the first year-plus since exiting bankruptcy. And that was before the crisis.
Having played the role of an upstart retail juggernaut in the 1890s, Sears now finds itself in the same position as the rural general stores it used to drive out of business en masse. On the other hand, Sears’ demise is not all Amazon’s fault , nor is it a simple circle-of-life parable. Sears made its share of mistakes.
You could be asking “What happened to Sears and Sears Holdings?”
While Sears Holdings spun off assets, it also went through wave after wave of store closures as its retail business weakened and sales fell. And the shrinking and asset sales continue today under Transformco. In January, for example, the company sold off five Kmart leases to Target.
Sears’ downfall was largely self-inflicted , and it was more than 20 years in the making. “Put bluntly, [Sears] has failed on every facet of retailing from assortment to service to merchandise to basic shop keeping standards.
Do people still care about Sears?
Most of the world has forgotten both. “In the world of retail, Sears ceased being a factor four or five years ago,” Nick Egelanian, retail analyst and president of retail development firm Site. Works, said in an interview. ” You cared about it if you had it in your [shopping] center .
Sears has closed hundreds of stores after exiting bankruptcy in February 2019 . The company operated just 182 Sears and Kmart stores at the end of February, down from 400 a year earlier and 1,000 two years ago. All Sears-branded stores were closed as of April 4 because of health concerns.
In the plan, the embattled CEO outlined steps including a restructuring program designed to streamline operations, improve operating performance, and deliver cost reductions of at least $1 billion on an annualized basis . Some of these savings are new, while others come from an already underway plan to close 108 Kmart and 42 Sears stores.
What went wrong with the Sears-Kmart merger?
Trying to seamlessly integrate two different cultures, different systems and processes is hard for even the strongest of companies. But for a company that had already moved in too many directions, the merger took a heavy toll on Sears. “The solution to Sears’ problems was to buy another retailer not doing well, and that was Kmart.
How many Sears stores are there?
Later that year, in November, a statement from Transformco — the last time is has commented publicly about its store count — put the number at about 190 . A December news article on the woeful state of Sears from CNN Business put the current number at 122, including 74 Sears and 48 Kmarts.
How many Sears and Kmart stores are there?
The company operated just 182 Sears and Kmart stores at the end of February, down from 400 a year earlier and 1,000 two years ago. All Sears-branded stores were closed as of April 4 because of health concerns.
What’s the average age of Sears shoppers?
The average age of Sears shopper is 50, according to Coresight’s data, and JCPenney shoppers’ average age is 48 . Both are among the oldest of any retailer. If Sears is forced back into bankruptcy a second time, it could be the end of both the Sears and Kmart brands.