Goodbye Sears...

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  • dbhost
    Slow and steady
    • Apr 2008
    • 9209
    • League City, Texas
    • Ryobi BT3100

    Goodbye Sears...

    The era of Sears it would appear, is rapidly coming to a close. The buyout bid it would appear has failed, and Sears Holdings is heading to liquidation. They have already liquidated the tools sadly enough, but at least Craftsman is at Lowes, and Ace Hardware, so that's good...
    Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.
  • twistsol
    Veteran Member
    • Dec 2002
    • 2893
    • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
    • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

    #2
    Sometimes you have to dig deep for the positive. At least the 68,000 people who will be looking for jobs shortly won't be doing so in an economy with high unemployment. Best wishes for them to all be gainfully employed again as quickly as possible.

    I walked through Sears at Christmas time this year at Mall of America and it already looked like the place had been cleaned out. Most of the shelves were empty and there were almost no appliances or tools in the store.
    Chr's
    __________
    An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
    A moral man does it.

    Comment

    • LCHIEN
      Internet Fact Checker
      • Dec 2002
      • 20914
      • Katy, TX, USA.
      • BT3000 vintage 1999

      #3
      The sad thing is that Sears has been so badly mismanaged, Many of the stores that have been closed, they did nothing with, That is, they simply locked the doors and walked away with no plans.
      I heard a report that they were paying rent on long term contracts for 200 stores. Many of the stores are still full of merchandise but there is no one to manage or handle it. So they are still spending a great deal of money on rent for closed properties (I guess bankruptcy will solve that) and have huge amounts of goods tied up in stores with no way to deal with its value. Before they can end those leases someone has to go in and clean them up.
      Loring in Katy, TX USA
      If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
      BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

      Comment

      • cwsmith
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2005
        • 2737
        • NY Southern Tier, USA.
        • BT3100-1

        #4
        The sad question is, "Why did this happen"? It appeared to be entirely mismanagement; and yet, right to the very end, the top management were being paid millions of dollars in bonuses! How do you get a bonus when you are sinking the corporation and laying off thousands of workers? Where were the board of directors, and where were the stock holders? And perhaps equally important, where was the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department?

        This just looks like the worst example of capitalism gone horribly wrong... all for the greed of a handful of characters.

        My late FIL, as well as a number of his friends and people I held dearly, spent a lifetime working at Sears. Most have passed away, but I quite imagine they're 'rolling in their graves', so to speak. I know that if my FIL was still alive, this would have probably killed him, and I imagine there's a number of long-time employees and retirees who are feeling this loss personally.

        There really should be some accountability!

        CWS
        Think it Through Before You Do!

        Comment

        • twistsol
          Veteran Member
          • Dec 2002
          • 2893
          • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
          • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

          #5
          Originally posted by cwsmith
          Where were the board of directors, and where were the stock holders?

          CWS
          I read recently that Eddie Lampert owned 31% of Sears and the hedge fund he manages owned 19% which makes the magic 50%. There is nothing illegal about running a business into the ground, the remaining shareholders had no power other than to cause a stalemate, and most likely were looking at their holdings as a lost investment, or a long shot if Sears survived. Anyone selling products to Sears knew there was a risk they wouldn't get paid. That's just part of doing business.

          If I understand correctly, Sears owes the hedge fund 2.8 Billion which is secured by real estate. The court is questioning whether whether the secured loans are valid and whether they get paid first, or whether the hedge fund just gets the same percentage they are owed after liquidation as anyone else.
          Chr's
          __________
          An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
          A moral man does it.

          Comment

          • LCHIEN
            Internet Fact Checker
            • Dec 2002
            • 20914
            • Katy, TX, USA.
            • BT3000 vintage 1999

            #6
            Headline today : Court allows Chairman Eddie Lampert another chance to buy Sears, pushing off decision to shut stores

            Still hanging by a thread.
            Loring in Katy, TX USA
            If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
            BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

            Comment

            • woodturner
              Veteran Member
              • Jun 2008
              • 2047
              • Western Pennsylvania
              • General, Sears 21829, BT3100

              #7
              Earlier reports were that the bid was accepted, different media sources are reporting different things. Guess we will have to wait for the court filings to post before we can tell for sure.
              --------------------------------------------------
              Electrical Engineer by day, Woodworker by night

              Comment

              • twistsol
                Veteran Member
                • Dec 2002
                • 2893
                • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
                • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

                #8
                I read last night that he increased the bid from 4.4 billion to 5 billion and came up with the 120 million deposit. Clearly these are people paying in a whole different leage than the rest of us. I need 120 million by 4:00? I must have left that in my other pants, no wait, here it is.
                Chr's
                __________
                An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
                A moral man does it.

                Comment

                • Carlos
                  Veteran Member
                  • Jan 2004
                  • 1893
                  • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

                  #9
                  About 30 minutes ago I got this from a consumer group I'm part of (with Citibank, the retail finance bank for Sears):

                  Let’s go shopping with Sears!
                  Thanks for your responses so far! We’re running a special project where we want you to be our Secret Shopper to visit the Appliance section of a Sears store in your area. As a Secret Shopper, you’ll pretend to be interested in an appliance item (e.g., dishwasher, washer/dryer, refrigerator, oven, etc.) and complete the following tasks at Sears:
                  • Browse through the Appliances section to take note of what you see about Sears credit cards
                  • Have a conversation with a store associate about an appliance item and Sears credit card options.


                  You’ll then use your smartphone to take a few pictures of what you see and answer a few questions about your experience shopping in the department and your conversation with the associate about the card.

                  Comment

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