Sears Parts centers are closing

[bmyers]

Yup, you'll now have to order stuff online, pay shipping and hope its the right parts. I think there will be a few parts stores here and there but most will be closing. At least thats what the lady at my local one said.

You can get about 30% off what is in the store. I got a few mower wheels and a gas can for pretty cheap.


Last ditch effort I supposed to going bankrupt for Sears. Doesn't look good. I live in a town where there are actually S & R houses purchased from the catalog.


Bill

[LinuxRandal]

Our Sears parts center, is mostly lawn and garden and a little bit of appliance stuff. The appliance part will be the missed part, as our best other alternative, closed a few years back. I am going to have to go down there and see next week.

[Uncle Cracker]

I think it was pretty much only a matter of time. It is a predictable move, given the lower cost of selling online, and the fact that the same business will still probably come their way, since there are few, if any, alternatives to the consumer.

[JeffG78]

Ours closed years ago. I needed a part for an air ratchet, so after finding out that the parts store was gone, I ordered it online. It was a $1.25 part and it was $8.50 to ship it from the warehouse which was on the other side of Michigan. The part was basically a ball bearing about 5mm in diameter. They simply stuck it in an envelope and mailed it. The postage was under a doller yet I paid $8.50 for shipping.

[Black wallnut]

Ours closed years ago. I needed a part for an air ratchet, so after finding out that the parts store was gone, I ordered it online. It was a $1.25 part and it was $8.50 to ship it from the warehouse which was on the other side of Michigan. The part was basically a ball bearing about 5mm in diameter. They simply stuck it in an envelope and mailed it. The postage was under a doller yet I paid $8.50 for shipping.

Yup, hey thanks for keeping costs down so that when i ordered parts for two different appliances at the same time that were shipped from two different warehouses I only had to pay one shipping fee.

Sorry to see them go but since the closest one to me that was/ is open on weekends is 100 miles away it does not directly effect me. I think part of the problem may be that there are fewer folks repairing their own stuff these days.

[Kristofor]

I liked the fact that they had parts for tons of stuff actually on hand and it seemed reasonably priced. I love ordering "stuff" online, but if I need to fix something I generally want to fix it NOW, so they were good for that.

However, I hope their online search system is better than their current in-store one... Let me share a visit to the Eden Prairie Sears part center just a couple weeks ago.

Me: "Hi, I need XYZ part for a water heater"
Salesdroid: "Okay do you have the model number?"
Me: "No, but 3 of models you sell downstairs all use the same part, can you look it up under one of those models?"
Salesdroid: "Not without a model number"
Me: "Okay, you sell them, can you lookup the model number?"
Salesdriod: "Not unless you know a part number that goes into that model"
Salesdriod: "Look, we have 6.4 (or 4.6?) million parts in the system, how do you expect me to find the part number without a model number (in smarmy voice).
Me (in my head), hmmm, I have databases with hundreds of millions of records I can query almost instantly....
Me: "Might not that information be on your website?"
Salesdriod: "It might, but we do not have that information over here"
Me: "Would you like to call the extension for the water heater department downstairs or let me do so to find out the part number?"
Salesdroid: "That's not our policy"
Me (in head): Walking to find the part number would be quick an easy, but I won't give this guy the satisfaction.
Me: "Thanks for the help!" (and out the door)