Sears is closing stores...

[polywideblock]

I remember when the first Kmart opened here. it was a big thing ,had a huge car park that was full 24/7 . you could buy all sorts of rifles /shotguns as well as all sorts of "crap", loved their toy section . got a Stirling 22 semi auto for Christmas in 1975 with a 500 round "brick" of Stirling 22 ammo from Kmart ( that was in the days before the disarmament of the Australian people ) . now all they sell is their own inferior brand( no "name " brands anymore) of everything that no-one wants, I shop elsewhere just like everybody else does .

 

[Mopars & Missiles]

Trust me....I'm in data-bases, most aren't.

Yeah, I'm in a few of them myself. That's what happens when you're in certain lines of work!

 

[Car Nut]

I worked at Sears Auto center back in the seventies, first job was mounting tires. When I left for the night at 11pm, the mechanic's would come to work and was locked in over night. They use to rebuild engines and major repair work, those were the days.

 

[ZR9B]

The sears by me at oakland mall still get a lot of shoppers. its pretty much in a mall with a lot of other stores and it is also one of the main entrances. I like having them around.....they are not the same as they were but still kinda cool.

 

[Kern Dog]

Anyone wanting to visit these stores, I suggest that you hurry up.
Also, skip buying any extended warranty on anything....

 

[Car Nut]

Anyone wanting to visit these stores, I suggest that you hurry up.
Also, skip buying any extended warranty on anything....

Sadly my three year old Diehard battery needed charging, took it to Sears last week. The kid checking it said it had a leak after charging for 30 seconds. He did not want to be bothered, I left with a brand new Diehard battery. The battery didn't leak, went dead for sitting for three years.

 

[NJRR]

the internet will take out even more
brick and mortar stores as time goes on..

Maybe yes, maybe no. Amazon just announced that they are opening brick and mortar stores.
Many people like to physically pick out their purchases. Also, if you need something immediately, no online ordering can fulfill that purchase.

 

[PRND21]

The bra and panties section in the old Sears catalog was a great place years ago for an adolescent, such as I was, to explore the fairer sex for the very first time.

And before you laugh at me, I'm sure that there are others here who did the same thing.

Oh, hell yeah! And with a tool section and a firearm section. Those catalogs are how I learned to read!

 

[PRND21]

Wow, that really sucks. I'd try again. I just took a ratchet, socket and swivel back yesterday and they replaced everything. Although I did notice after I got home that the ratchet was refurbished. We did buy a home tool kit for my daughter now that she is really out of the house and has an apartment at college and a basic tool kit for my son who just finished college earlier this year. I was planning to add tools to both over the years, but it may not be Craftsman stuff, mainly because most of it's made in China anymore. What I really noticed and have noticed for several years is it takes forever to check out of the place. The computer/register systems are so old and slow. It took me 20-25 minutes just to check out yesterday.

A couple of years ago I took a 3/4 drive ratchet back to get a rebuild kit. Manager said the don't offer the kits anymore and showed me a couple of "refurbished" ratchets that looked like they had been through a hammermill. I asked him if he was serious, mine looked like new (40 years old) compared to what I was offered. I asked if he was sure there were no kits in stock, he rummaged around through some boxes and finally found one and gave it to me. Most of the specialty tools they used to sell are unavailable. Moral of the story: try not to break any of your Craftsman tools. The unlimited warranty ain't worth a damn when the replacements are no longer available.

 

[YY1]

I had the same ratchet experience but a early as 1990.

Mine like new, the exchange offer beat to death. Asked to see manager- he said take it or leave it.

Not bought new tools there since.

The Sears in Dayton was a grand affair with a 10+ flight of stairs to get in. Basement full of hardware, sporting goods and toys. Separate building for auto shop.

...and Cheryl Tiegs was a Sears underwear model circa 1979/80

 

[themechanic]

Out with the old, in with the new.

 

[BBishere2]

I bought a 9 drawer roll-around with a 12 drawer top set of Craftsman tool boxes and used them for decades. When I had my NAPA store, I bought a much larger ProTraxx set and got everything together. some years later I gave my old Craftsman set of perfectly good boxes to a nephew who was starting to spin wrenches, I thought I'd help him out. Would you believe within a couple of months between him, his brother and his moron father they had tore up those boxes? They jammed the drawers shut with stuff sticking out the top of the drawers among other things they did to them.... Dumb *** will never get my big ProTraxx cabinets full of tools.....

 

[WileE]

I have Craftsman tools to this day I bought 45 years ago, along with S-K, and snap-on. In recent years, I've broken metric sockets quite regularly, but mostly all my standard ones never broke.

 

[Paul Boucher]

For 12 years I have built tool kits for the military and aviation companies and have watched Craftsman deteriorate. It is sad. I used to go with my dad to buy his tools. They were all American made, had everything under the sun, and were pretty good quality. They started moving to China in about 2010. They actually still have some US made stuff, but it is their Industral Line and not sold in their stores. Makes sense right?

We were actually approached by them in 2012 to become an Industrial distributor, but not enough product we could use left that US made, and everything else was filled with Chinese made, and the government does not like Chinese made tools, so we passed.

We still have the occasional small aviation maintenance outfit that will send us Craftsman tools to be laser etched and have custom foam drawer inserts made for them, and every bit is junk.

Their tool boxes are made in Mexico and it looks like they are made at an HVAC plant as the drawer are the same gage metal as duct work and were even pop riveted together instead of welded. The easiest way to tell the quality of a tool box is to check the weight spec. Most single bay tool boxes we work with weight around 300-400 lbs, the Craftsman came in at a whopping 165 lbs.

On one job we had to have Sears ship us three tool boxes before we had one that would work. The first one was completely warped and the drawer slides in the rear were not even riveted to the back frame so when you pulled the drawers out, you could move them up and down. The second box came in with the back rivets in the wrong spots on the back on one side so when you pulled the drawer out it torqued to a 25 degree angle. I guess Raul was drunk on Tequilla those days.

We have seen just about every tool manufacturer you can imagine come through our facility and Craftsman are by far the worst now. Just a shame.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

This continues to be a sad story. Not only for Sears (who I still refer to as Sears & Roebuck) but other iconic brick & mortar retailers. Although sad, it's interesting to see history repeating itself with consumer internet purchasing killing off brick & mortar retail sales just like Sears & Roebuck did to general stores across the country in the late 1800's with their mail order catalog business. Time & progress stand still for no one person or entity.

This is so true. How does the industry leader built on mail order for a century miss the impending change to on-line?

I too got my first credit card from Sears back in 1985. I still have it, and though I also don't carry a balance on it due to it's predatory interest rate, the company has been a part of my everyday life for a long time. It's hard to watch it implode due to decades of lack of vision.

 

[Pops1967GTX]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/07/sears-to-close-another-43-stores.html

 

[idrivemopar]

Used to have both here, now they are both closed, for well over a year now. They did bring a Sears appliance only store here, but its lame!

 

[Cranky]

Had a Sears hardware and appliance just down the street but for the most part, the people in there just didn't care or didn't know how to care about a customer. Western Auto closed down many years ago and just before the Sears store closed, a mom and pop hardware that had been in the same area for nearly 60 years closed down. No one wanted to buy their business so now there's nothing close by anymore except for a couple of auto parts stores.

 

[themechanic]

Amazon will continue to take over the department store market.

 

[mopar 3 B]

I have a friend that has done store closings of Kmart merchandise for years. He works in a KC based store.
Last week they received a tractor trailer of paper towels and butt wipe from a closed California store. No wonder their going out of business. Toiletries have always been sold at a loss. He figured the trucking cost more than the value of the whole load.