Amazon, Home Depot, and others have taken business away from them. They have sold many locations and brand names (craftsman, Kenmore) to raise capital, for the purpose of paying off debt. they are not investing in innovative products, and not improving their supply chain.

Featured image:  Sears Roebuck & Co. Consumer’s Guide for 1894 Paperback — Facsimile, Available on Amazon.

Many of the Sears (and Kmart) locations are looking old and tired, not fresh and exciting.

This is not an opinion that is exclusively mine:

100 years ago the sears catalog brought amazing promise to the American consumer, you could even buy a complete house kit from Sears! (Via Mail Order).

The management seems to be milking Sears of all salable assets, and then will be auctioning off whatever is left. They are closing more locations, as their business is clearly not growing.

I wish I was wrong, but the writing seems to be on the wall. Unless the management is willing to take risks, invest in the business, compete with Amazon, and develop new and desirable brands, they will continue the slow decline they are on now.

Disclaimer: I worked (briefly) for sears in their appliance department while in college in the 1970’s. Most of my tools are Craftsman, and I blog about these topics on The Chenkin Report.

I will miss Sears, although Lowes is trying to make Craftsman products a viable name again.

UPDATE:

Sears, as we know it, is pretty much GONE.  The Craftsman name lives on at Lowes Stores and Ace Hardware.  Lowes has also reinstated the Craftsman Lifetime Warranty, and will replace original Craftsman tools that are broken and defective at no charge.  Kudos to Lowes!