[ShepherdsDog]

Here's a list of some of the stores closing, while they 'restructure'. In total, approximately 2,900 job losses are expected.

[DrCaleb]

Meh. Don't know the last time I was in a Sears store. Over 20 years I bet.

[BRAH]

I was in a Sears 3 months ago when I 2 bought giant suit cases reg $325.00 for $100.00 each. The one store Sears might never close is at WEM.

[herbie]

Know a guy with decades in the Kamloops store that's closing. Hope he's reached his magic number!
The Prince George store remains open. I think I've spent $100 there in the last 3 decades....

[BartSimpson]

The fortunes of Sears are both tragic and ironic.

Sears became the retail superpower of its time via the revolution of catalog ordering and delivery. Then it moved into brick and mortar establishments and it dominated local general stores and small businesses.

But it didn't keep up because its managers thought that they didn't have to pay attention to the market and Sears lost ground to Wal Mart and Amazon.

Now they're just trying to manage the company to a soft landing before they close it up and shut off the lights.

Sad.

But it's also an object lesson that all of us need to keep current to remain relevant.

[Coach85]

They clearly didn't learn anything from Zellers in Canada.

Same complacent attitude, poor service, dirty stores...surprised they held on this long.

[DrCaleb]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

But it's also an object lesson that all of us need to keep current to remain relevant.

I'm not that crazy about Amazon, because I like to see and feel what I'm buying before I buy it.

The last time I was in a department store was when I broke the last in a set of my favourite whisky glasses. I went all over the city to try to find a good crystal glasses, and found that exactly nobody sells them anymore. You can get glass, but no one had good lead crystal (conical, pinwheel design, handcut).

But type it in to Amazon, and you have 5 or 6 different suppliers, all with what I'm looking for. And not just glasses, but vitamin supplements and dashcams and raspberry pi sensor kits . . .

I might not like Amazon, but they do fulfill a need that other stores just don't seem to anymore.

[xerxes]

I do remember reading about Sears in the US and how badly run it's been. And frankly I'm not surprised it's going under up here as well. The one in the mall in my town has gotten shittier than Walmart.

[BeaverFever]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The fortunes of Sears are both tragic and ironic.

Sears became the retail superpower of its time via the revolution of catalog ordering and delivery. Then it moved into brick and mortar establishments and it dominated local general stores and small businesses.

But it didn't keep up because its managers thought that they didn't have to pay attention to the market and Sears lost ground to Wal Mart and Amazon.

Now they're just trying to manage the company to a soft landing before they close it up and shut off the lights.

Sad.

But it's also an object lesson that all of us need to keep current to remain relevant.

The Bay seems to be doing well, largely thanks to its reinvention over the past couple of decades with iconic and historic branding and premium quality fashions and merchandise. Sears just seems to sell cheaper crap. Don't get me wrong, we need stores that sell cheaper goods, I was almost a Sears customer this week trying to buy a cheap garage fridge from them, but the only suitable option was on back order with the manufacturer and they didn't have any alternatives so I took my business elsewhere.

[housewife]

We haven't bought anything in sears in years. Last thing I can really remember buying was the car seat it was on sale. And that was over three years ago

[martin14]

Soon to be a country of Wallmart and Dollar stores.

[Strutz]

Actually, I was surprised they still had this many locations left to close down. The Sears here vanished a few years ago and it's still weird to go to the mall and not see it as it occupied a huge space at one end of it. I used to shop there for this and that sometimes but I don't miss it that much.

I do still miss Zellers though when it comes to anything household-wise.

[herbie]

Dumb, as they were the Amazon of yesteryear and completely failed to see things coming.
And they concentrated on the big city malls, forgot about their small town roots. There's still a niche for small town hands-on department stores, but intergrated with a distro system.
The local catalogue store I have no idea why the franchisee bothers. Won't take cash, can't work the online order system, doesn't even care. It IS in the Dollar Store... real classy.

[housewife]

Strutz Strutz:

Actually, I was surprised they still had this many locations left to close down. The Sears here vanished a few years ago and it's still weird to go to the mall and not see it as it occupied a huge space at one end of it. I used to shop there for this and that sometimes but I don't miss it that much.

I do still miss Zellers though when it comes to anything household-wise.

I miss Zellers too. I much preferred Zellers to Walmart.

[BeaverFever]

In my mind there's a huge middle ground in the brick and mortar world between dollar stores and Walmart on the low end and The Bay and specialty stores on the high end. That's what Target was supposed to fill but they shit the bed.