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  1. #1
    Unadjusted Human on CBR SUPERECWFAN1's Avatar
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    Default Sears finally Collapses into Bankruptcy.




    https://www.wcvb.com/article/sears-t...uptcy/23769411

    Or we can discuss how Eddie Lampert led a business that existed for over 110+ years into bankruptcy due to moronic moves and terrible ideas. Anyhow the sad fact is Sears has been limping towards death for nearly 2 decades and it began before the buyout from K-Mart that Lampert pushed through for $11 billion in 2004. K-Mart itself was struggling as well but not to the level that Sears was.

    A fact that one person detailed years ago he advised Lampert and K-Mart to just wait til Sears headed into bankruptcy and buy the company for nothing or pick off the brands. Because the company was in trouble then. Of course as we saw Lampert didn't listen and believed that he could fix both companies problems merging them to compete against Wal-Mart. Which spurred this deal to happen. It was to defeat Wal-Mart which is the #1 retailer today. But the numbers are in the proof of what happened.


    Sears itself had 900+ stores with 200,000+ workers in 2004. They had revenue of $31+ billion at one stage. By 2004 K-Mart had 2,600 stores itself and an unknown amount of workers at this point (so combined both companies had 3,500 stores !) 14 years later the 2 companies combined run 1200+ stores and have 140,000+ workers. But have announced more store closings and layoffs.





    So as the company went down the toilet , Lampert's style of ownership as CEO was named as a reason it happened. There was knocks he would stay at his home and do meetings with his board there. If the company did a plan and it didn't have huge results to start ; Lampert would pull the plug. Then there was his stupid belief in Ayn Rand that had his division heads compete for money and resources ; believing that this type of fighting would lead to innovation. Instead it made things much worse.


    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-th...to-bankruptcy/


    But why did the board sit and allow Lampert for 14 years to stay on as CEO ? Did anyone not realize as the company went into the gutter that his leadership was not working ? Now he's gone but he quit as CEO. Which speaks volumes that he literally had to quit and was not fired by anyone on that K-Mart/Sears board .

    In the end a company that existed for over 100+ yards was destroyed by terrible leadership. RIP SEARS.



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  2. #2
    Latverian ambassador Iron Maiden's Avatar
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    Can't say I'm surprised. My Dad, who passed away 13 years ago next month, worked for Sears for most of his life. He designed the ads for the local newspaper back in the days when it wasn't done on the corporate level like all stores do now. Then later when they sent that work to Chicago, he was in charge of the windows and then did work on the sales floor too. This was in the Sear in Gary, In

    I hardly ever shop at Sear anymore. They just didn't know what products to sell. I'd go to the womens fashions and they were just not stocked well. There's another Sears store in my area that is just branded as Sears Hardware. The inside is just so disorganized. It's like the store manager just doesn't give a crap. Locally, Sears, Penneys, Carsons were always the anchor stores at the malls. Now there's a 2 floor vacancy where the Carsons was located. Sears has two floors there too. These days I wonder how much longer J C Penneys will last.

    I don't want to do online shopping for Everything but it looks like that's where we are headed.
    Last edited by Iron Maiden; 10-16-2018 at 08:52 AM.

  3. #3
    Old school comic book fan WestPhillyPunisher's Avatar
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    When I was a kid, one of THE most fun times of the year was in December when mom brought the Sears Wish Book home and I'd pour through the pages in wide eyed awe at all the cool toys and stuff, so it's very sad that the long time chain is circling the bowl and about to go under. Today, the nearest Sears where I live in West Philly is all the way in Moorestown, New Jersey (it was spared the ax in yesterday's announcement of store closings), I swing by there once a month or so, the clothing department on the first floor is pretty organized and kept well stocked, but the second floor is less than stellar. They used to have an extensive electronics department with big screen TV's, stereo equipment, game consoles, the whole nine yards, but that went away almost a year ago, no doubt because there's a Best Buy little over half a mile away and they've easily stolen Sears' thunder when it comes to electronics, now it's been replaced by cookware, housewares, appliances and an "As Seen On TV" section. While Amazon and Wal-Mart teamed up to deal killshots to Sears, I'll be said to see the chain go since it was part of the American landscape.
    Last edited by WestPhillyPunisher; 10-16-2018 at 06:01 AM.
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  4. #4
    BANNED Starter Set's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SUPERECWFAN1 View Post
    Oh my...that...that was disturbing to watch.

  5. #5
    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    This is part of a trend, bad and/or incompetent management causes a once successful business to collapse. I've seen it happen before. Why it's allowed to happen? I have no idea.
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  6. #6
    Invincible Member Kirby101's Avatar
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    If you read about the Hedge-Fund Manager and Ayn Rand fan Eddie Lambert, who is the reason for this, you will see it isn't about national trends or shoppers. It's about vulture capitalism.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-th...to-bankruptcy/
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  7. #7
    Swollen Member GOLGO 13's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SUPERECWFAN1 View Post
    ... Lampert's style of ownership as CEO was named as a reason it happened. There was knocks he would stay at his home and do meetings with his board there. If the company did a plan and it didn't have huge results to start ; Lampert would pull the plug. Then there was his stupid belief in Ayn Rand that had his division heads compete for money and resources ; believing that this type of fighting would lead to innovation. Instead it made things much worse.
    So a Ayn Rand follower, eh? Explains a LOT right there.

  8. #8
    Loony Scott Taylor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirby101 View Post
    If you read about the Hedge-Fund Manager and Ayn Rand fan Eddie Lambert, who is the reason for this, you will see it isn't about national trends or shoppers. It's about vulture capitalism.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/meet-th...to-bankruptcy/
    Yep. When he took over the writing was on the wall that it was only a matter of time. Sears was desperate, though.
    Every day is a gift, not a given right.

  9. #9
    Ultimate Member Gray Lensman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tami View Post
    This is part of a trend, bad and/or incompetent management causes a once successful business to collapse. I've seen it happen before. Why it's allowed to happen? I have no idea.
    Once you are part of the executive club success or failure no longer matters. You will keep getting jobs in similar positions no matter how many companies you lead to ruin. And it's true even in smaller companies - my previous job had a guy who managed to lead it to the only period of negative growth it had ever experienced under its entire history. He was let go (contract bought out) and he had a new job in charge of another mid sized company within a month.

  10. #10
    Unadjusted Human on CBR SUPERECWFAN1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tami View Post
    This is part of a trend, bad and/or incompetent management causes a once successful business to collapse. I've seen it happen before. Why it's allowed to happen? I have no idea.
    Quote Originally Posted by Gray Lensman View Post
    Once you are part of the executive club success or failure no longer matters. You will keep getting jobs in similar positions no matter how many companies you lead to ruin. And it's true even in smaller companies - my previous job had a guy who managed to lead it to the only period of negative growth it had ever experienced under its entire history. He was let go (contract bought out) and he had a new job in charge of another mid sized company within a month.

    Years ago I worked at a place where the one main manager left , he was replaced by a general idiot who did terrible moves etc. The funniest thing was how he got fired (won't go into detail) there but he really wasn't fired. He was sent to another place in the company to keep the same job at a new location. So as I joked , you can fail at one place and keep staying within the company it appears.
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  11. #11
    Boisterously Confused
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    Sears basically was Amazon once upon a time, taking advantage of the new innovation (a reliable, national postal system) to disrupt the retail systems of its day. Just as the movie studios misread the potential of television, television networks misread the potential of both cable and the internet, Sears misread what the internet might mean.

    Quote Originally Posted by Iron Maiden View Post
    I don't want to do online shopping for Everything but it looks like that's where we are headed.
    Many online Etailers are experimenting with Brick and Mortar, but that will mainly be in high density urban centers. It does offer an opportunity in smaller areas for boutique retail. Other retailers will survive too, but they're moving to devote less floor to showrooms, and more to eCommerce distribution.

  12. #12
    Astonishing Member LordMikel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrNewGod View Post
    Sears basically was Amazon once upon a time, taking advantage of the new innovation (a reliable, national postal system) to disrupt the retail systems of its day. Just as the movie studios misread the potential of television, television networks misread the potential of both cable and the internet, Sears misread what the internet might mean.

    Many online Etailers are experimenting with Brick and Mortar, but that will mainly be in high density urban centers. It does offer an opportunity in smaller areas for boutique retail. Other retailers will survive too, but they're moving to devote less floor to showrooms, and more to eCommerce distribution.
    DorkTower1117.jpg
    Ok, picture isn't uploading well. Here is the link to actually be able to read it.
    http://www.dorktower.com/2012/11/28/7765/

    I hate on-line shopping. I try to avoid it whenever I can. Sadly my wife loves it and will order crap we don't need. Seriously she ordered an HDMI cable, which we have 2 not used, cause she didn't want to wait.

    Personally I always felt the beginning of the end for Sears was the dropping of their toy department. That happened when I was young and I basically stopped wanting to go to Sears to shop when I was younger. As I got older, I simply didn't shop their since that wasn't where I was used to shopping.
    Last edited by LordMikel; 10-19-2018 at 01:44 PM.
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