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Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs
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Honestly, further debt restructuring at this point increasingly looks like it's throwing good money after bad.

Sears, another iconic American department store chain -- one of the most iconic in the country, in fact -- could go belly up this year. It announced another round of KMart-Sears store closings the other day and has now said it will consider "all options" if its effort to refinance $1 billion fail.

Now, all the big-time finance bubbas here know that if you owe someone a hundred dollars you've got a problem. But if you owe them $100,000 then they have a problem, so Sears may not be dead yet. But man, it's sure starting to take on the stink of a decomposing corpse. Just one walk through a typical Sears store like the one several miles from where I live will tell you that.


"While reiterating his belief that the department store has the right strategy to turn Sears around, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert said should the refinancing “not be fully successful, the Company’s Board will consider all other options to maximize the value of Sears Holdings’ assets.”

“If we successfully complete the financing transactions we are contemplating, we will materially improve the financial strength and operating focus of Sears Holdings and provide meaningful reassurance of our viability to our vendors and business partners,” Lampert said.

Sears said its same-store sales dropped between 16 and 17 percent for the first two months of the fourth quarter, or what represents the crucial holiday shopping season."




"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sears Is On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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big kahuna wrote:
Honestly, further debt restructuring at this point increasingly looks like it's throwing good money after bad.

Sears, another iconic American department store chain -- one of the most iconic in the country, in fact -- could go belly up this year. It announced another round of KMart-Sears store closings the other day and has now said it will consider "all options" if its effort to refinance $1 billion fail.

Now, all the big-time finance bubbas here know that if you owe someone a hundred dollars you've got a problem. But if you owe them $100,000 then they have a problem, so Sears may not be dead yet. But man, it's sure starting to take on the stink of a decomposing corpse. Just one walk through a typical Sears store like the one several miles from where I live will tell you that.



"While reiterating his belief that the department store has the right strategy to turn Sears around, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert said should the refinancing “not be fully successful, the Company’s Board will consider all other options to maximize the value of Sears Holdings’ assets.”

“If we successfully complete the financing transactions we are contemplating, we will materially improve the financial strength and operating focus of Sears Holdings and provide meaningful reassurance of our viability to our vendors and business partners,” Lampert said.

Sears said its same-store sales dropped between 16 and 17 percent for the first two months of the fourth quarter, or what represents the crucial holiday shopping season."




fixed the title for you

and contrary to your usual posts I wouldn't call this "news" (to anyone but Eddie Lampert; god that's gotta sting and leave a mark)
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Re: Sears Is On Its Last Legs [ironmayb] [ In reply to ]
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ironmayb wrote:
big kahuna wrote:
Honestly, further debt restructuring at this point increasingly looks like it's throwing good money after bad.

Sears, another iconic American department store chain -- one of the most iconic in the country, in fact -- could go belly up this year. It announced another round of KMart-Sears store closings the other day and has now said it will consider "all options" if its effort to refinance $1 billion fail.

Now, all the big-time finance bubbas here know that if you owe someone a hundred dollars you've got a problem. But if you owe them $100,000 then they have a problem, so Sears may not be dead yet. But man, it's sure starting to take on the stink of a decomposing corpse. Just one walk through a typical Sears store like the one several miles from where I live will tell you that.




"While reiterating his belief that the department store has the right strategy to turn Sears around, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert said should the refinancing “not be fully successful, the Company’s Board will consider all other options to maximize the value of Sears Holdings’ assets.”

“If we successfully complete the financing transactions we are contemplating, we will materially improve the financial strength and operating focus of Sears Holdings and provide meaningful reassurance of our viability to our vendors and business partners,” Lampert said.

Sears said its same-store sales dropped between 16 and 17 percent for the first two months of the fourth quarter, or what represents the crucial holiday shopping season."




fixed the title for you

and contrary to your usual posts I wouldn't call this "news" (to anyone but Eddie Lampert; god that's gotta sting and leave a mark)

Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it.

I didn't know if going completely doom-and-gloom right out the gate was called for, but on reflection... it's called for.

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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I'm surprised they made it this long.

Although I really like their tools and appreciate browsing the tools department.

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [JSA] [ In reply to ]
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JSA wrote:
I'm surprised they made it this long.

Although I really like their tools and appreciate browsing the tools department.

Didn't they just sell off the Craftsman brand? Kenmore, too?

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [JSA] [ In reply to ]
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going back to mail order firearms might help.
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Re: Sears Is On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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Sears and Kmart. Great calls. Lampert was once considered by some the next warren buffett. These bets have taken him from $3.1B in 2013 to $1.9B in 2018 (think of what the S&P has done during that time; or buffett or bezos)

And with the commitments he has made and will need to make I think the $1.9B is a mirage.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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big kahuna wrote:
JSA wrote:
I'm surprised they made it this long.

Although I really like their tools and appreciate browsing the tools department.


Didn't they just sell off the Craftsman brand? Kenmore, too?

Yep, to Black and Decker. I don't think they sold Kenmore. They made a deal with Amazon to carry Kenmore items, which if further driving people from going into the store.

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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In Canada, Sears tried the "restructuring thing" - they moved alot of dead merch to dedicated liquidation stores, tried shutting about half to recover and then finally the whole thing imploded... Sears now is gone in Canada... Sounds like it's repeating down there with the mothership...

They couldn't crack the nut - while other retailers were evolving, Sears carried crap, maintained poor staffing levels, and steadfastedly stuck to their island cash model - how many times did you have to go to housewares to pay for something from men's wear because the cash wasn't open...?
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [snoots] [ In reply to ]
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I went to a sears outlet store about a year ago and bought my $4k fridge for $650 after coupons, discounts, mark downs, and an eBay 10% gift card. And that includes a 5 year extended warranty!! Honestly it was a poor mans sub zero that I got for a homeless persons price. They have to had to pay me money on that transaction, so no wonder that they are still in a kind of free fall. I think real estate is there last meaningful asset, if they haven mortgaged all that off yet too..
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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It will never cease to amaze me. They were Amazon before there was Amazon. And then couldn't figure out how to be Amazon.

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [j p o] [ In reply to ]
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They were Amazon before there was Amazon. And then couldn't figure out how to be Amazon. //

Actually Barnes and Noble and Borders were Amazon before and at the beginning of Amazon. They were crushed while never noticing or responding to the attack, and since there are 1000's of other companies that have done the same thing. But Amazon is like a black hole, it just keeps sucking matter(companies) and it is getting so big and powerful that no one can resist its pull. Wallmart is like light trying to escape now, some particles seem to make it, but in the end there is only black...


But they outlasted Wollworths and Montgomery Wards, so they got that going for them I guess..

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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [monty] [ In reply to ]
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monty wrote:
I went to a sears outlet store about a year ago and bought my $4k fridge for $650 after coupons, discounts, mark downs, and an eBay 10% gift card. And that includes a 5 year extended warranty!! Honestly it was a poor mans sub zero that I got for a homeless persons price. They have to had to pay me money on that transaction, so no wonder that they are still in a kind of free fall. I think real estate is there last meaningful asset, if they haven mortgaged all that off yet too..


I thought that's why he bought it. To breadk it up and sell the real estate for more than he paid. Then he tried to make a horse race out of the actual retail part. Then kept doubling down on bad ideas (like the ones you describe above). Now it's too late and the real estate is worth far less than what his hedge fund has loaned or guaranteed to vendors, banks etc.

your position is correct but the ship has sailed (and sunk).
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [monty] [ In reply to ]
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monty wrote:
I went to a sears outlet store about a year ago and bought my $4k fridge for $650 after coupons, discounts, mark downs, and an eBay 10% gift card. And that includes a 5 year extended warranty!! Honestly it was a poor mans sub zero that I got for a homeless persons price. They have to had to pay me money on that transaction, so no wonder that they are still in a kind of free fall. I think real estate is there last meaningful asset, if they haven mortgaged all that off yet too..

Other than a few prime sites, most of their real estate is probably closer to a liability than an asset. Big boxes like Sears are dead. The new thing in CRE is repurposing dead big box/mall properties into multifamily residential but that only works if the real estate is really, really cheap.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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Sears may be on its last legs, but those legs are wearing corduroy toughskins, and they look mah-ve-lous!
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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Well, when they started selling real estate assets to generate working capital to cover their losing business model, the writing was on the wall. Kind of sad, really. Times change.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [JSA] [ In reply to ]
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JSA wrote:

Although I really like browsing the tools department.

LR still available for that. This place is never going out of business.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [spookini] [ In reply to ]
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spookini wrote:
Sears may be on its last legs, but those legs are wearing corduroy toughskins, and they look mah-ve-lous!


Hahahahaha! The annual August trip to Sears for school clothes -- including Toughskins corduroy trousers -- was a regular part of the year for us. :-)

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
Last edited by: big kahuna: Jan 11, 18 2:58
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Re: Sears Is On Its Last Legs [ironmayb] [ In reply to ]
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ironmayb wrote:
Sears and Kmart. Great calls.

I can't recall the last time I went into either store. 20 years ago, maybe 30.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [monty] [ In reply to ]
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monty wrote:
They were Amazon before there was Amazon. And then couldn't figure out how to be Amazon. //

Actually Barnes and Noble and Borders were Amazon before and at the beginning of Amazon. They were crushed while never noticing or responding to the attack, and since there are 1000's of other companies that have done the same thing. But Amazon is like a black hole, it just keeps sucking matter(companies) and it is getting so big and powerful that no one can resist its pull. Wallmart is like light trying to escape now, some particles seem to make it, but in the end there is only black...


But they outlasted Wollworths and Montgomery Wards, so they got that going for them I guess..

I saw on the news the other night that Amazon accounted for 90% of all online retail sales during the holiday season of the four major retailers.

Walmart had 4%. Best Buy had 4%. Target had 2%.

Amazon also had more online sales during the period than every other company in existence... combined. They controlled more than 50% of the online retail market.

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [big kahuna] [ In reply to ]
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big kahuna wrote:
Hahahahaha! The annual August trip to Sears for school clothes -- including Toughskins corduroy trousers -- was a regular part of the year for us. :-)
Oh yeah. The Sears catalog women's lingerie section was also the porn of my formative years. I learned to appreciate the female figure through many hours of secretive after-school study of those pages.
Nothing better til years later when my folks bought me a Sports Illustrated subscription and Cheryl Tiegs showed up in the mailbox under a waterfall. Ahh, good mammaries. Err, memories.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [dvfmfidc] [ In reply to ]
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dvfmfidc wrote:
going back to mail order firearms might help.

Yeah, the irony is they started in the mail order business and probably killed a lot of brick and mortar retail stores back in the day.

Reading the history of Sears, it sure sounds like they were the Amazon of the late 19th century.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [spookini] [ In reply to ]
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spookini wrote:
big kahuna wrote:
Hahahahaha! The annual August trip to Sears for school clothes -- including Toughskins corduroy trousers -- was a regular part of the year for us. :-)

Oh yeah. The Sears catalog women's lingerie section was also the porn of my formative years. I learned to appreciate the female figure through many hours of secretive after-school study of those pages.
Nothing better til years later when my folks bought me a Sports Illustrated subscription and Cheryl Tiegs showed up in the mailbox under a waterfall. Ahh, good mammaries. Err, memories.

Hahahahahaha! Exactly so! ;-)

"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [The GMAN] [ In reply to ]
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You can thank my wife for that. She probably accounted for 10% of Amazon's holiday sales. We should have gifted massage gift cards to our USPS and UPS drivers.

Amazon really couldn't make it much easier -- their platform is easy to navigate, everything is there, pricing is solid, and if pricing isn't any better than a local price it's still far more convenient. If the rumor is true about Amazon considering a purchase of Target, it's lights out for everyone else. Not only would it change the physical retail space and deepen their reach into grocery types of sales, but would add a valuable warehouse network to their distribution channels, quite possibly allowing them to continue their mission of owning their own deliveries in more places and cutting back UPS and USPS relationships.

Sears missed the mark in ecommerce in a big way and then still had dilapidated stores to make them doubly unappealing. Their website is terrible enough to convince me that they don't want to sell anything online (at least the last time I tried to order on it a couple of years ago). And that sucks, because they were iconic and my first choice for tools since they carried Craftsman and a first choice when shopping appliances. If only they went back to their roots as a toilet paper company....


The GMAN wrote:
I saw on the news the other night that Amazon accounted for 90% of all online retail sales during the holiday season of the four major retailers.

Walmart had 4%. Best Buy had 4%. Target had 2%.

Amazon also had more online sales during the period than every other company in existence... combined. They controlled more than 50% of the online retail market.
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Re: Sears Is Possibly On Its Last Legs [MidwestRoadie] [ In reply to ]
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What I can't understand is why other companies aren't willing to provide the level of customer service that Amazon provides? They make it not only easy to buy stuff, but easy to return as well. I've had less hassles with Amazon than I have had with any other retailer.
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