Zayre88 - Sears

Headquarters: Hoffman Estates, IL
Founders: Alvah C. Roebuck & Richard W. Sears
Employees: n/a
Stores: 60 (estimated 2020) 223 (2019) 529 (Q1 2018)
Slogan: Shop your way!
Founded: 1886 (Legacy) 1892 (Incorporated)
Website: sears.com

COMMENTARY:

Sears was a pioneer in retailing, especially with its famous catalog. I never knew the early days of Sears of course but it grew to become one of the world's largest retailer. It seemed as if every mall in North America had a Sears store at one point. Sears always meant good quality and service and was home of renowned brands like Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard. Unfortunately, Sears kind of stopped evolving and its model of "middle of the road" department store appeared to be stuck in time for the last two decades. Because of that, the brand slowly declined over the years and in the meantime, Walmart, Target and even smaller players like Kohl's surpassed Sears. The Kmart merger looked promising but quickly sent Sears and Kmart in a downward spiral of losses, falling sales and store closings. Today, Sears exists but is a very small shadow of its former self.

OVERVIEW:

In recent years, Sears has somehow managed to stay in business despite an array of fierce competitors and online shopping. The Sears Essential brand has slowly been phased out and some stores even reverted back to Kmart or just Sears. Following bad holiday sales in 2011, the company announced it would close 100 to 120 Sears & Kmart stores in 2012. Between 2012 and 2014, the company continued to close more stores, most of the time when store leases expired. In 2014, Sears Holdings announced it would close 77 Sears and Kmart stores by year end. In 2015 and 2016, more Sears stores closed here and there, gradually decreasing its footprint in the U.S.

Early in 2016, Sears Holdings announced the closure of 78 stores including 68 Kmart stores. In December 2016, more store closings were announced for early 2017 and days later in January 2017, it was announced that 26 Sears stores would close. In July 2017, Sears Holdings announces the closing of 43 Sears & Kmart stores.

In October 2017, Sears Canada went out of business and stores closed for good around January 2018. In June 2018, Sears announced the closing of 15 Kmart and 48 Sears. In August 2018, Sears announced the closing of 33 Sears locations.

On October 15, 2018, Sears Holdings filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced the closing of 79 Sears stores. In late December, the company announced the closing of another 80 Sears & Kmart stores. In February 2019, a bankruptcy judge approved Eddie Lampert's takeover of Sears Holdings, keeping 425 stores open including 202 Kmart stores and 223 Sears stores. In August 2019, Sears announced the closing of 21 stores leaving the brand with barely more than 200 stores. Sears has continued to close stores including 51 in early 2020 and 20 more in July. Estimates show that only about 60 Sears stores remain open in the United States.

NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND SEARS OVERVIEW:

Sears always had a small to moderate presence in northern New England. The stores were mostly located in larger towns with the exceptions of Brunswick Maine. Not much changed for Sears until its acquisition by Kmart to form Sears Holdings. After the merger, Sears rolled out different concepts including Sears Essentials.

In 2005 Sears launched a new concept called Sears Essentials which was a mix of Sears and Kmart in the Kmart store format. Three NH stores were converted to that format with very little success. All three stores were eventually closed. The Sears store base remained the same for years until 2012 when the Lewiston Mall store was closed. Presque Isle followed in 2014. Augusta's Sears location closed in 2017 marking the 3rd Maine closing.

2018 proved to be a tough year for Sears. The company went ahead with many rounds of closures for Sears and Kmart stores. The Bangor Mall store was closed. Oddly enough, the Sears Auto Center remained open. Then in the fall the company announced the closing of Sears stores in Manchester and Salem, two of New Hampshire densely populated areas. This move is proving once again that Sears is simply giving up. The company filed for bankruptcy in October and announced the closing of 142 stores, including Newington's Sears at the Fox Run Mall. In November 2019, the company announced the closing of 96 Sears and Kmart stores, 51 of which are Sears stores. This included the Concord and Nashua locations in NH. Two stores also closed in Massachusetts in Auburn and Leominster as well as the last Sears in Vermont in South Burlington. Then in 2020, Sears announced the closing of the South Portland store at the Maine Mall effectively becoming entirely out of northern New England.

SEARS CANADA OVERVIEW:

Sears opened stores in Canada in 1952. Like its US counterpart, Sears expanded and thrived for decades. In 1992, the company struggled and started to operate at a loss. It bounced back in the mid 90's and later acquired assets of the bankrupt Eaton's chain in 1999. The Eatons operation was short-lived and stores were converted to Sears in 2002. In 2005, Sears Canada sold it's credit card operations to JP Morgan Chase. In 2006, Sears Holdings tried to acquire the remaining shares of the company to privatize it but that move fell through. From 2010 to 2016, Sears Canada went through rough times. The chain was plagued with falling sales, losses and constant management turnover. Sears started to sell some of its stores and it stopped selling electronics and other items. In 2016, the company unveiled a new logo. In June 2017, Sears Canada announced it got court protection from its creditors and confirmed it would close 59 stores (including 20 full-line stores). On October 2, 2017, it announced the closing of an additional 11 stores. Eight days later, Sears confirmed it was seeking court approval to liquidate the remaining business.