Current Events > Seriously, how did Sears manage to go out of business?

(+) Yeah! (+)

• Around for more than a hundred years.
• Sold the best tools in the world, where if your hand tool broke theyd give you another one free.
• Had exclusive versions of toys (GI Joe, Atari) before that was even a thing.
• Was shipping stuff to your house before Jeff Bezos was even born. Catalogue should have easily transitioned to online.

How do you manage to fuck all that up?

---

Amazon

---

BeyondWalls posted...

Jeff Bezos

---

same reason nobody remembers Roebuck

---

Turbam posted...

Amazon

Yeah, but why wasnt Sears Amazon?

---

Sears never had a good online platform, especially not back in the early days of the internet.

---

My assumption would be that they just failed to get ahead of the curve in regards to the internet, much like Blockbuster

---

they started to renege on the tools thing towards the end

---

eston posted...

My assumption would be that they just failed to get ahead of the curve in regards to the internet, much like Blockbuster

pretty much this. Plus you have other retailers with better online options.

inertia only carries you so far until you've got to innovate to build back up some momentum. they let their mail order service die off decades ago and never really moved towards a robust web based sales platform. essentially they decided physical storefronts would never lose out.

---

Ya, it is fucked up.

But that's what happens when people stop thinking.
---

"Gimbels is gone, Marge. Long gone. ....you're Gimbels."

---

Brick and mortar stores are all going out of style/business. It's all about online these days. I see a lot of places closing down, not just Sears.

The abandoned Sears property in my city would be a perfect level in Tony hawk pro skater

ultimate reaver posted...

they started to renege on the tools thing towards the end

People were looking through dumps and rusty scrapyards trying to find old tools so they could bring them in, get replacements, then sell the replacements. At least I think that was part of the problem.

---

Hudsons bay company is 350 years old and it'll be dead completely before it hits the next ten year anniversary.

---

Too expensive. They sold things for far more than every other place in my city.

CanuckCowboy posted...

Hudsons bay company is 350 years old and it'll be dead completely before it hits the next ten year anniversary.

Do you know how Hudsons Bay got it's name?
---

SiO4 posted...

Do you know how Hudsons Bay got it's name?

I just always assumed it was named after Hudson Bay and they got a lot of beaver pelts from there or something. Lol.

---

In another timeline, Amazon got its web hosting shut down, and Sears became the biggest online retailer with Sears Prime.

---

Orlando_Jordan posted...

In another timeline, Amazon got its web hosting shut down, and Sears became the biggest online retailer with Sears Prime.

I think Sears' online platform would simply be known as "The Catalogue"

---

CanuckCowboy posted...

I just always assumed it was named after Hudson Bay and they got a lot of beaver pelts from there or something. Lol.

No. ((Though you are somewhat correct on Beaver Pelts))

Hudson Bay is named after Henry Hudson.
He was one of those trying to seek the Northwest Passage to Asia.
Henry is the person for which The Hudson River is named.
The Hudson River being one of the most important Rivers in the world, as it is the Harbor for NYC.

((His ship at the time was name, The Halfmoon btw, which I kinda' love))

I also love it personally because I've spent so many day in, on and around it.

Having said all that.
He was on another expedition to find the Northwest Passage...
But at some point is crew had had enough, and basically mutinied and sent their Caption, Caption Hudson on a dinghy into the cold waters of Hudson Bay, and he was never heard from again.

~True story.
---

Damn_Underscore posted...

Sears never had a good online platform, especially not back in the early days of the internet.

Yeah. We know that. The question is, why not? They already had everything in place with their catalog service. All they had to do was push a digital storefront. They could have cornered the market back when Amazon was just selling books.

I mean, it makes no sense. They had the product, the warehouses, the distribution network. It should have been a natural transition.

---

Eddie Lampert drove Sears into the ground and then torched the remains
---

BeyondWalls posted...

Yeah. We know that. The question is, why not? They already had everything in place with their catalog service. All they had to do was push a digital storefront. They could have cornered the market back when Amazon was just selling books.

I mean, it makes no sense. They had the product, the warehouses, the distribution network. It should have been a natural transition.

Amazon's online retail operates at a loss to have large marketshare and they actually make money with their webhosting service.
---

It was run into the ground by some libertarian weirdo.
I mean, adapting to a changing economy is hard, but engaging in what amounted to rampant self-sabotage made it impossible.

Over priced merchandise, the last time I went in sears, I turned around and went to Walmart after seeinf their prices in sears, but this was years ago

---

I always associated them with the death of malls since they're in or near so many.

---

BeyondWalls posted...

Yeah, but why wasnt Sears Amazon?

Same reason Blockbuster wasnt Netflix lack of vision

I still think it's crazy that Kmart were the ones who bought them out. You'd think it would be the other way around since this was in 2004 when Kmart was already faltering. They just consolidated everything into the Sears brand since it was considered more valuable.

---

BeyondWalls posted...

Yeah. We know that. The question is, why not? They already had everything in place with their catalog service. All they had to do was push a digital storefront. They could have cornered the market back when Amazon was just selling books.

I mean, it makes no sense. They had the product, the warehouses, the distribution network. It should have been a natural transition.

Nobody really took the internet very seriously when it first started spreading. Especially when Sears was doing so well in the pre-internet days, why would they bother changing?

CanuckCowboy posted...

Hudsons bay company is 350 years old and it'll be dead completely before it hits the next ten year anniversary.

My local bay seems to be doing pretty decently (covid-aside) but I wouldn't at all be surprised if its gone in the next few years. But my local Blockbuster was also doing well until it closed so who knows.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

It was run into the ground by some libertarian weirdo.
I mean, adapting to a changing economy is hard, but engaging in what amounted to rampant self-sabotage made it impossible.

Not just a libertarian weirdo, he's an Ayn Rand cultist too.
---

Ex-Kefiroth posted...

Eddie Lampert intentionally ruined the company.

This
Like there were plenty of lawsuits filed against him

---

Cuz it was run by boomers who refused to evolve

---

Webmaster4531 posted...

Amazon's online retail operates at a loss

Doubt.

Sounds like the same market myth about consoles selling at a loss and making it up on games. I guarantee Sony makes money on every PS5 purchase and Amazon makes money on every transaction.

---

Proto_Spark posted...

Sears was doing so well in the pre-internet days, why would they bother changing?

I mean, its not like they hadnt changed before. Im assuming the company that supplied early American homesteaders didnt operate the same as the one supplying 80s mall rats.

---

The answer is vulture capitalists

---

The type of people who physically walk into a store to buy something must like cheaply built cheaply price stuff. They'd rather go to a walmart.

This video pretty much details what went wrong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qws713t3HBY

---

Ex-Kefiroth posted...

Eddie Lampert intentionally ruined the company.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't he the Ayn Rand nut who pitted departments and divisions against each other instead of taking a wholistic view of the company?

---

Sears tools and lawnmowers served my family well in the past. And I grew up in Toughskins until Junior High. You outgrew that shit before you wore it out.

---

brestugo posted...

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't he the Ayn Rand nut who pitted departments and divisions against each other instead of taking a wholistic view of the company?

I bet he was secretly compensated by other american companies to help run down and liquidate sears while it was still running.

Sears had a mail order catalog, but couldn't pivot into the 21st century. They are like Blockbuster.

---

Redfeather posted...

I bet he was secretly compensated by other american companies to help run down and liquidate sears while it was still running.

I don't know about that but if business press from the time is to be believed he took a Darwinian approach to each aspect of the company and literally pitted department against department and division against division. The company cannibalized itself. He ran it into the ground.

---

Alucard188 posted...

Sears had a mail order catalog, but couldn't pivot into the 21st century. They are like Blockbuster.

Yeah, we know. No one is confused about that. The question is why? Blockbuster didnt already have a distribution network sending movies to your house. Sears did. I mean that literally too. Sears would send movies to your house.

---

I remember reading an article about the Ayn Rand Society or whatever they call it. They said they have trouble keeping people over 24 years old. The bulk of their membership is college students and a few professors.

---

BlackHorse6969 posted...

Cuz it was run by boomers who refused to evolve

...

---