Sears Holdings Plans To Close 21 Stores By Spring

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

6:36 pm EST February 22, 2010

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. said Monday that it plans to shut 21 more stores around the country.

The announcement brings to 56 the number of stores that the owner of Sears and Kmart has said over the past year that it will close.

About 1,000 jobs will be affected when the stores close this spring.

The announcement affects 13 Kmarts in: Longmont, Colo.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Bainbridge, Ga.; Crestwood, Ill.; Woodstock, Ill.; Connersville, Ind.; Austin, Minn.; Cleveland; Dayton, Ohio; Eastlake, Ohio; Milford, Ohio; Wadsworth, Ohio; and Bremerton, Wash.

Four Sears stores will shut at malls in Waycross, Ga.; Wilson, N.C.; Columbia, Tenn.; and Houston.

And four smaller Sears locations, called Sears Essentials, will close in Londonderry, N.H.; Marlton, N.J.; South Plainfield, N.J.; and West Bend, Wis.

Spokeswoman Kimberly Freely says the closings are part of Sears' normal operations.

Sears will report its fourth-quarter results Tuesday. It operates more than 3,900 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

The company's shares rose 62 cents to $95.66 in trading Monday.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/money/22637777/detail.html

[rpannier]

1. Sad

There were several posts back around 2005 where Sears was allowing their employees who had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and their families to keep their benefits and seniority (when they returned).

Sears has been one of the few that actually does support the men and women deployed.

Most places sell ribbons and chant the meme "Support the Troops" But Sears is one of the few that has actually done something substantive

[Eric Condon]

3. The worst part is that that probably contributed to their financial woes

It's seriously to the point where no company can stay financially solvent without engaging in the most predatory, unscrupulous conduct imaginable. In our Free Market™ economy, ethical behavior and respect for basic human decency just isn't financially feasible.

[CHelms]

8. Re. The Worst Part is that that probably contributed to their financial woes

One of the worst aspects of capitalism is the way when one company does something really awful that saves them a lot of money, it forces everybody else to imitate that behavior in order to stay competitive. If you can save a zillion dollars a year by dropping your pension plan, refusing to pay overtime and selling shoddy crap, you do it. And soon everybody else will, too. If you're a brewer and you can start watering down your beer and save enough to make up for the customers you are sure to lose, not only will you do it, other brewers will be forced to do it too in order to keep their costs as low as yours now are. If doing something illegal saves enough to make up for the legal costs when they get caught, a corporation is sure to do it and "set the pace" for the others.

[WriteDown]

19. That is only if people BUY the items....

I can't tell you how many people I've seen pass up a made in America tool to save a dollar or two on a Chinese tool who's quality is leagues below.

[HopeHoops]

22. I would rather spend $10 on a US made hammer that will last forever than $1 ten times on cheap ones

I've got a wealth of tools my grandfathers owned. They're all US made Craftsman, Snap-On, etc. Cheap tools aren't worth the so called "savings".

[WriteDown]

23. You are one of the few though...

I'm the same way.

[HopeHoops]

27. I buy tools with the intent to keep them forever (and I do just that).

The so called "steel" that China uses even LOOKS like garbage! Screw that.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. literally ALL of the Sears I have been to are the pits

this has everything to do with their company management and how little they have done to maintain good stores

[2Design]

4. they have crapped up the kmarts too - crap product lines instead

of some of what kmart had - just not as good to shop at anymore - never really like sears and now kmart and there is no where else to shop for clothes at lower prices - it is all foreign made and terrible quality so why pay higher prices

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

13. its the Walmarting of America

Sears used to be one of the best places to work, profit sharing, health benefits, very sad what Sears has become.

[sybylla]

17. No kidding. K-mart used to be my favorite store before Sears got a hold of them.

After ours closed in town in the first round all those years ago, I began hunting them down in other towns. Trips anywhere would often have time carved out for a stop at K-mart.

Now all the ones I go to - anywhere - seem to be run down, have crappy merchandise selection, high prices (compared with Target, et al) and I leave disappointed. About the only thing I go there for anymore are the Thom McCan (sp?) shoes. I prefer real leather and they have wide sizes that fit me. At least for the moment.

[420inTN]

25. Re: "before Sears got a hold of them."

Actually, K-Mart bought Sears, not the other way around. http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/

Which was very surprising since K-Mart had just emerged from bankruptcy (again).

I've always liked Sears, and wasn't too keen on them being bought by K-Mart.

Almost all of my tools (and most of my appliance purchases) have come from Sears.

[sybylla]

28. Never liked Sears.

Regardless of who bought whom, the result is absolute crap.

[420inTN]

29. guess my experiences have better than yours.

i quite like sears. but about the only thing i buy from them are tools and appliances.

[IScreamSundays]

5. That is weird. Today we drove by the mall close to our home...

There were cars parked all around the big stores and entrances but the parking lot at the west end of the mall that Sears occupies was empty. I thought how can they even stay open. The only thing Sears has going for them is there appliances, some electronics, and tools.

[aquart]

6. Gee, maybe they shouldn't have dumped the catalog.

[gadjitfreek]

7. And Walmart smiles again...

Pay your workers a decent wage and you can't stay in business. What happened to us as a nation? This must be somehow all Obama's fault. :)

I always find it sickening that shareholders profit from layoffs.

[TheWatcher]

9. And yet it was reported this morning that their Profit more than doubles in the 4thQ

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sears-profit-more-than-apf-1931539675.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

So we get this Spin, but the underlying reality always says something different.

Everything is NOT fine.

No matter how the Propagandists wish to tell it is, and no matter how many different ways they find to distort reality.

[420inTN]

26. re: "Profit more than doubles"

Just because the company as a whole is doing well, that doesn't mean that every location is doing well.

While closing 54 locations sucks for those employees and those who depend upon those stores for their shopping, it's not even 1.5% of the 3900 total locations owned by Sears Holdings.

Now, if they were closing 540 locations, that would be a different matter.

[fasttense]

10. Well then, that should pretty well wipe out the only remaining strip mall here.

We had a small strip mall near the down town area that use to have 3 or 4 big name stores all filed or going bankrupt now: Belk, K-mart, Goody's, Sears. K-mart is still open but it looks like a dump. Sears was keeping the place open.

They should move the Farmer's Market there. It's business is booming.

[Catshrink]

11. I'm surprised the one by me isn't on that list.

If I chance to drive by the "power center" occupied by a Target and a Kmart, I see the Kmart parking lot nearly empty and the Target lot full. The nearby WalMart lot is also full and even a Walgreens has more cars in the lot than the Kmart. I haven't set foot in that store for at least a couple of years.

[PassingFair]

12. Oh my, poor Ohio!

It sickens me.

Michigan and Ohio are in such
dire straights.

[POAS]

14. Kmart just ran a "going out of business" ad

in Monday's paper for three Kmart locations in and around Cleveland.

The one listed in this article in Wadsworth has poor visibility, is small and has had to compete with a Wal*Mart super center that opened several years ago directly across the road. Without any attempt by corporate to build up this location or move to another location its fate was sealed when that Wal*Mart opened.

The grocery store chain (Giant Eagle) that shared the Kmart parking lot, by contrast, built an entirely new and very large store a few miles away (but still in Wadsworth) in a better location and that store is now thriving.

[Faith No More]

15. I worked for this rotten company for 7 years.

If you knew how they operated and the dirty, underhanded shit they pulled on their employees and customers, you would be saying "good riddance."

[booksenkatz]

16. Just wondering, did the Kenmore brand lose its quality?

Back in the old days, Kenmore had a great reputation. We got a dryer in 1985 that is still going strong after years of daily use. They must have lost their edge somewhere along the way in an effort to cut costs and compete, like everyone else. Very sad for those of us who grew up with Sears.

[bongbong]

18. Agree on Kenmore

I grew up with Sears. My dad swore by them for all his purchases. The house we bought a few years ago has a Kenmore washer & dryer from, it appears, the late 80's/early 90's. They are "Made in USA" (that is not the only reason I can figure out their approx date)

They run like they're brand new. I'm not sure what we'll get when they die, but I'm an engineer and can fix pretty much anything so I'll try to nurse them back to health as long as I can. After that, maybe Bosch. In matters of quality, Germany is the new USA (I'm sure that isn't news to anybody)

[FBaggins]

20. Yes and no

Kenmore (for most appliances anyway) usually picks another manufacturer to produce their appliances. Your Kenmore dishwasher may be a Whirlpool while your Kenmore refrigerator may be an LG.

Now... they usually pick one of the best models available in a given market segment, but if you were to follow Consumer Reports as long as I have, you might notice that the Kenmore gets higher customer ratings than the essentially-identical appliance by the other manufacturer.

You used to see these things with, say, the Chevy Nova and Toyota Corolla. For a few years they were virtually identical vehicles made on the same assembly lines to the same standards... yet people thought the Toyota was better.

[mopinko]

21. consumer reports still likes a lot of the kenmore stuff.

we bought a new washer and dryer recently. they were rated fairly well. they are behind the times, tho. we were looking for energy efficiency, and they didn't have it.

[Codeine]

30. Consumer Reports is a joke.

They exist to reinforce the biases and preconceptions of their yuppie readership, nothing more.

[blue_onyx]

24. I'm surprised more chains...

aren't announcing store closings. I thought after the second poor holiday season that more stores would close.