*** UPDATED x1 *** Question of the day
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
Sears, once the monolith of American retail, says that there is “substantial doubt” that it will be able to keep its doors open. […]
Sears has been a member of the retail dead pool for years, but until this week the company had not openly acknowledged its tenuous existence, said Ken Perkins, who heads the research firm Retail Metrics LLC.
Sears has long maintained that by balancing the sale of key assets while at the same time enticing customers with loyalty programs, it would eventually turn the corner.
Yet industry analysts have placed the staggering sums of money that Sears is losing beside the limited number of assets it has left to sell, and concluded that the storied retailer may have reached the point of no return.
The company has lost $10.4 billion since 2011, the last year that it made a profit. Excluding charges that can be listed as one-time events, the loss is $4.57 billion, Perkins says, but how the losses are stacked no longer seem to matter.
Needless to say, if Sears goes under, it’ll be a huge loss to Illinois.
* The Question: Your best (or worst) Sears memories?
*** UPDATE *** From Sears…
Following the release of our annual 10-K filing on Tuesday, there have been various media reports quoting a portion of the report that outlines potential risks associated with the company’s financial position, but those reports do not include the full disclosure which highlights the actions we are taking to mitigate those risks.
It is very important to reiterate that Sears Holdings remains focused on executing our transformation plan and will continue to take actions to help ensure our competitiveness and ability to continue to meet our financial obligations. However, we recognize there has been some negative commentary related to our recent disclosures.
To clarify, the comments from our Annual Report quoted by the media are in line with regulatory standards that require management to assess and disclose potential risks the company could face within one year from the reported financial statements. As 2016 proved to be another challenging year for most “bricks and mortar” retailers, our disclosures reflected these developments. While historical performance drives the disclosure, our financial plans and forecast do not reflect the continuation of that performance.
It is also critical to understand that our independent auditors have provided Sears Holdings with an “unqualified audit opinion.” This indicates the Company remains a “going concern,” which means we are a viable business that can meet its financial and other obligations for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, we have always followed SEC guidelines by providing a complete and comprehensive set of disclosures, just as many other publicly traded companies do.
Again, as we have previously communicated, we are firmly focused on improving the operational performance and financial flexibility of Sears Holdings. This is evident in the decisive actions we have taken in recent months, which include:
earlier this year, we increased our liquidity by up to $1.0 billion through our Secured Loan Facility and a standby letter of credit facility;
we also announced an amendment to our existing asset-based credit facility in February 2017, which provided an additional $250 million of financial flexibility;
additionally, last month, the Company initiated a restructuring program targeted to deliver at least $1.0 billion in annualized cost savings;
earlier this month, we closed the previously announced Craftsman transaction for a net present value of over $900 million in cash; and
in late January, we monetized five Sears full-line stores and two Sears Auto Centers for $72.5 million, and we recently received an additional $105 million in gross proceeds from the sale of three Sears full-line stores, one owned and two leased.
In line with these initiatives, despite the risks outlined we remain confident in our financial position and remain focused on executing our transformation plan.
Jason Hollar is Sears Holdings’ chief financial officer.
- Honeybear - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:23 pm:
Sears catalog at Christmas time.
- Aldyth - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:24 pm:
When I was in graduate school in the seventies, I remember one of my instructors telling the class that Sears was responsible for one percent of the gross national product.
When I was a kid, they called the girl’s plus size section Chubby Lane. I hated that.
- Blago's Hare - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:25 pm:
You beat me to it, Honeybear! Just like my sisters used to do. It was always a big fight in our house over who got to look at it first.
- Mr. K. - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:26 pm:
Sears is like a lot of retailers that hasn’t navigated the post-internet age very well — if at all. Reminds me of Borders (nowhere near as well established as Sears, of course) — but Borders blew it — as POTUS would say, “Big time.”
Sears, too, although watching it — it’s slow, death-by-a-thousand cuts sort of thing, apparently. Like Radio Shack. lol.
- former southerner - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:27 pm:
The bags of warm cashews when my parents took me into the store as a child. I am sure that is what started my lifelong addiction to cashews.
- dr. reason a, goodwin - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:29 pm:
It’s ironic that the company that basically invented mail order is being done in by the modern version of mail order.
- City Zen - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:31 pm:
The only way to play video game (Atari aka Sears Telegames) at the mall for free.
- Ron Burgundy - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:31 pm:
Always seemed to have good lawnmowers.
- ezlife - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:32 pm:
The candy shop when they were located on South Grand.
- pool boy - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:32 pm:
Showing my age but I agree with honey bear and blue dog dem. That and Montgomery wards was all we had besides a local drug store, five and dime and hardware store.
- blue dog dem - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:35 pm:
Pool boy. I wished mine had all the pages….
- Rabid - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:38 pm:
Playing with the X-ray machine you could see your feet in. Used to put my hand in in so my sister could see my fingers
- non - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:39 pm:
Bought my first appliances at Sears when I moved out of the house. Fewer options then.
- walker - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:40 pm:
High quality hand tools.
- Shemp - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:41 pm:
Toss up between the Christmas Catalog, or a teen boy lusting for Craftsman tool sets before they became chinese junk.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:42 pm:
second Honeybear, that catalogue. can still remember things I got, and things I did not get….and still want! for years Sears was the only place for clothes, toys, appliances, almost everything except for food.
- The Dude Abides - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:45 pm:
I remember taking my daughter with me to Sears to buy a new lawn mower when she was in grade school. She is 27 now and I am still using that mower. I currently have a Kenmore Elite refrigerator too. They sold good mowers and appliances.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:49 pm:
Christmas catalog, and craftsman tools.
When I was very young, a family friend called posing as Santa. He asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I asked him to hold on so I could go get our Sears Christmas Catalog….
My parents have told my kids that story every year since they were old enough to understand.
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:50 pm:
“The bags of warm cashews when my parents took me into the store as a child.”
Mine too, right in the front of the store on Lawrence Ave. in Chicago.
My worst experience, which was not overly bad, was seeing “Duck Dynasty” merchandise in the middle of Chicago. I was like, Why is this store selling carrying those homophobes’ products? I thought of boycotting the store for a sec.
- prairiestatedem - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:52 pm:
When I was a college kid I worked construction, ripping out drywall at a downstate Sears location. It meant a lot to me that as we unloaded the new materials which were going to be used in the renovation, such as display racks etc, I noticed most of the suppliers were Illinois or midwestern companies. You are right Rich, this would be a huge blow for the direct employees and the thousands that have jobs from the all the other sectors this impacts.
- Yeah - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 1:52 pm:
The old store at second and South grand avenue was the first escalator I road. I was six or so years old at the time.
- Red rider - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:00 pm:
The money we gave them!
- DuPage - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:04 pm:
Sears Craftsman American-made hand tools, they used to be good, you could get sets at 50% off on sales right before Christmas. Also, they would stand behind their tools if they ever broke or wore out, they would exchange the broken tool for a new one. Today, not so much. Most of the tools are made overseas, and they don’t seem to stand up as well. Even worse, when a wrench failed recently, I was told “that wrench came out of a set, so you have to bring the whole set back to exchange it for a new set”. Used to be THEY would bust open a set to get the wrench out and exchange it. They used to be good.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:05 pm:
One of my earliest memories of going to the MALL for the first time- the candy counter at the north entrance to Sears in Eastland Mall (Bloomington). They had these huge rainbow swirled lollipops. Always wanted one, never got one- probably better for the teeth anyway:)
Ditto others on the Christmas catalogue. Penneys and Monty Wards catalogues weren’t quite as good as Sears!
- The Way I See It - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:06 pm:
For a worst memory … can we count them getting a bunch of public backing to move to Hoffman Estates?
It will be sad to see them go the way of the dinosaur. From a public policy perspective, we all need to realize that retail is slowly being strangled by the Internet, whether it is Amazon or some other player. When our oldest was an infant, there was a baby boutique that we used to go to for toys, singing groups, etc. They sold good high end stuff, had a well trained staff etc. The owner finally closed up shop after she helped someone figure out exactly what the right product was for them and the mom whipped out her cell phone and price shopped the hell out of it right in front of her. Can’t say I blame her.
If traditional retail is dying on the vine, do we need to rethink our reliance on sales taxes and property taxes on the real estate where retail establishments sit?
It’s a real question that we won’t think about in a serious way until all that is left of traditional retail is empty husks.
- Former hillrod - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:09 pm:
The smell of the candy counter at the South Grand entrance when Springfield’s store was on 2nd Street
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:14 pm:
I hated Toughskins so much.
- GOP Extremist - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:14 pm:
Maple nut goodies, a pair of tough skins and if I behaved maybe a trip to the Red Barn.
- GOP Extremist - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:16 pm:
Where you a slim or a husky?
- A guy - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:18 pm:
From a large family, Sears was a huge component of every part of life; tools, appliances, furniture, clothing, services….
It took a wrong turn that never went right. Such a shame.
- Mouthy - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:26 pm:
Hot dogs w/cheese whiz and a root beer from the stand at the 2nd street (Springfield) store..
- Harry Zimm - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:28 pm:
Good: As a kid the giant toy depth to browse, what seemed like thousands of lawn mowers on display and getting lost in the Craftsman department.
Worst: My older brothers hand me down Toughskin jeans that would NEVER die.
- Flynn's mom - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:33 pm:
The Christmas catalog was very cool!
- illinifan - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:35 pm:
First available credit card for retail purchases and then the many fights my parents had over the card balance. Availability of husky pants for my brother. Employment for many family members including over 25 years for my spouse.
- tobias846 - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
I was into astronomy as a kid, and had a Sears telescope that was really nice. I wish I had held on to it (instead of letting it go in a garage sale).
I also had a Sears electric typewriter when I was in graduate school. When something on it broke, I went to a Sears store and they looked up the model on a microfilm reader, found the number of the broken part, and ordered a replacement for me. Imagine trying to do that now with anything purchased at a big-box store!
- Tsavo - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
Going to Sears at 61st and south Western in Chicago with my Father in the 60s. Sears used to carry the Ted Williams line of outdoor hunting/fishing gear. I remember seeing all those shotguns lined up for sale and my Father picking up a couple boxes of ammo for the pheasant season.
Couldn’t wait until I was old enough to go out with him and my uncles.
- Keyser Soze - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:38 pm:
I can see a spin off of what Sears does well, e.g., automotive, tools, appliances, etc.
- Gooner - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:42 pm:
My father worked in a Sears store, so the kids were the original mall rats. We would go with him to work and spend the day hanging out in the mall.
The place put food on the table when I was a kid so in that sense, there is some sense of loss.
However, I don’t think I’ve been in a Sears store since about 1985. It is just not on our radar. When we look for appliances, we like Abt Electronics or Lowes. It never occurs to us to check out Sears.
They went from a store that offered a nice product when it came to things like tools and air conditioners, and an inexpensive product for clothes. They probably should have chosen one path or the other.
- Peters Post - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:43 pm:
We had a Sears Parts Warehouse in my hometown. Since everything was Craftsman, Kenmore and Kitchen Aid at hone fixing things around the house was simpler.
- Mama - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:44 pm:
I loved going to Sears on S. Grand when I was a kid. They had the best hot dogs and caramel-pop-corn.
- Democrat Grrrl - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:50 pm:
Every year, we went to the Sears store in East St. Louis to buy Easter outfits for my sister and me–dress, hat, gloves, frilly ankle socks. It was always such a treat.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:51 pm:
The huge crowds at the River Oaks and Park Forest Plaza Sears stores during Christmas time. The salt covered avocado and gold cars in long lines, plumes of exhaust vapors drifting over massive chromed bumpers. Ladies with lavendar hair wrapped in scarves smelling of lilac, struggling with shopping bags as they clamored for attention from a Sears clerk. The smell of popcorn, and candy greeting shoppers as their eyeglasses steamed up from the cold. The faux seasonal decorations.
The icy cold squishy foot mats being trampled upon by snowy slushy rubber boots.
The sounds of seasonal crowds filled with children, exhausted and frazzled parents, and of a mother’s call to the wandering to stay close.
- downstate commissioner - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 2:57 pm:
The old Sears building in Decatur. As a couple here have already mentioned, warm cashews (my favorite food) and escalators. The Sears Catalog (especially the women’s underwear section when I was a teenager-and a lot of you guys aren’t admitting that) was always a treat: I believe they even has specialty Xmas catalogs FULL of toys…
- cdog - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:00 pm:
I loved the Christmas catalog!
My mom made a life long impression on us telling us how she and her brothers would barter for the more absorbent index pages, circa 1930’s….. To this day, I keep lots of TP in stock.
- A guy - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:12 pm:
To the update;
“We’re going to take our time dying”
- Chicago Cynic - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:17 pm:
Worst Memories? Everything in the last ten years. The customer experience has become so bad and so out of date, I just don’t step foot in there anymore.
- BBG Watch - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:24 pm:
The hot dogs and tamales from the cart at 6-corners in Chicago. Going at the beginning of the school year for new shoes. Always buy Craftsman - they’re guaranteed for life (dad)! Of course, the Christmas catalog - my siblings and I would FIGHT over it.
- Jibba - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:34 pm:
In the early 1970s, my mom became the first woman to work in the hardware section at the old 2nd St store in Spfld, becoming known as the hardware lady. She did it because they made more per hour than in women’s clothes. She can still tell any tool apart. Sears started to fall apart when they switched away from full time sales staff.
- Stumpy's bunker - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:37 pm:
My uncle, quite the Sears company man, managed the appliance dept. at a central Illinois Sears.
I remember when I was a kid, he pulled me aside when I went to visit him there. He said (with d hushed intensity): “Our success just might drive Montgomery Ward’s out of business!”
- Logic not emotion - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:38 pm:
Takes me back to a more innocent era. I too liked the catalogs. I bought my first new rifle from Sears through the mail. Craftsman tools used to be high quality, but quality and customer service seemed to plummet when they joined up with K-Mart.
- guess I'm old! - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:49 pm:
As so many others, their catalogue! My sister and I fought over it at Christmas - the “Lemon Frog Shop” which was the girls teen area at South Grand - the popcorn and hotdogs when you walked in the door - the escalator - hiding in the round clothes racks - amazing a store can have such great memories!!
- How Ironic - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 3:59 pm:
Years ago (I mean MANY years ago) my father in law, a notorious cheapskate dropped off a brand new craftsman yard tool. He explained that while in the City (Chicago) someone had thrown away a broken tool. He took it out of the trash, went to the nearest Sears and exchanged it for a brand new one.
Come to think of it, perhaps that’s one of the reasons they are where they are now….
- Tim - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 4:01 pm:
The console television my parents bought in the early ’90s would uncontrollably raise its volume to the maximum whenever we had hot and/or humid weather. The remote and front-panel buttons became inoperative when this happened. By the time this started happening, it was out of warranty. Multiple service calls where the entire guts of the television were replaced never fully resolved the problem.
That was the last item my family purchased from Sears. Now I go there for Lands End stuff and that’s it.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 4:09 pm:
Not a memory, but the whole story of Sears’ role in opening up the West is just incredible.
You could order houses and whole towns through the catalog: lumber, tools, hardware, the whole schmear. The railroad would dump the kits at the side of the tracks. All with a no-questions asked, money-back guarantee.
“City of the Century” by Donald Miller has a fascinating account on the birth and growth of Sears and Wards.
- zatoichi - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 4:31 pm:
I grew up in the west burbs and spent many hours at the Sears store in Oakbrook Shopping Center. We went there so many times you simply knew where every item (underwear, tools, candy, car batteries) was. My tools still have many old Craftsman pieces that just never break. The current dish washer, stove, and wall mounted micro all came from Sears. They have all worked for years. Eventually, Sears also led me to Kroch and Brentano’s book store which was right around a corner and that openned up a whole new world.
- SnarkySup - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 4:42 pm:
My favorite Sears memory was when our illustrious state gave them a $275 million tax break to stick around a few years ago. I’m sure EIU would like to see that kind of funding. I’ll bet they’d even agree to stay in Illinois for a lot less than what Sears got.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 9:40 pm:
The Sears store at six corners in Chicago had a cafeteria kind of hidden away for employees parallel with Cicero Ave., customers could eat there too. It was identical to the café inside my high school: stainless steel counters that you slid your (fiber) plastic trays along and pointed out what you want, ladies with hairnets and smocks ladling up the chow, and a cash register at the end. Then get (stainless steel) silverware and seat yourself.
Also the small gun rack with single shot shotguns and maybe a tubular-feed bolt action .22 rimfire rifle. They could only sell long arms, not handguns in Chicago at that time. I still have the cheap .22 cleaning kit with rod and patches, with the cheesey cardboard sleeve with pre-computer graphics, red and white.
- Blue dog dem - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 9:59 pm:
Matchbox cars. They always had the best.
- iroquois county dem - Wednesday, Mar 22, 17 @ 10:04 pm:
my dad loved sears it was about the only place he would shop but what I remember most about sears is several of our neighbors worked there and made a good enough living to buy a home and raise a family more than can be said about most of the companies we now spend our money with
- Lynn S. - Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 12:52 am:
Best Sears memory: my son, in kindergarten, befriended a group of house painters working in our neighborhood. He was in afternoon kindergarten, so he would eat breakfast, then go over to the job site. He actually was pretty good “help”, and the guys would give him a few bucks. Son saved up his money and went to Sears, where he bought a Pokemon T-shirt. When his teacher asked how he got his shirt, he proudly said, ” paintin’ money.”
Worst: I was young, and a single female. Sears Automotive tried to hustle me into doing unnecessary work on my car. Years later, when I was working in mortgage lending, one of my clients had been pressured by Sears into paying off some debts previously discharged in a bankruptcy. This was before Eddie Lempert took over, so I can only imagine how much worse it’s gotten.
- Late to the Party - Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 6:12 am:
In Springfield, my favorite SEARS was the repair facility and small store on South 1st St. I still count SEARS as one of my “go to” stores.
- @MisterJayEm - Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 7:51 am:
Like my great-great grandfathers before me, my only relationship with Sears was via its catalogs.
(Any other country mice of a certain age remember the Sears’ catalog stores? Perhaps the most disappointing place in the world for a kid.)
– MrJM
- Anonymous - Thursday, Mar 23, 17 @ 8:44 am:
I remember watching their CEO flying in by helicopter to Hoffman Estates.