Just heard on the Radio and not to be ignored .............................

[Chris Ryser]

What's killing Sears and Kmart?

^{Charisse Jones , USA TODAY Published 10:06 a.m. ET March 22, 2017}

Here are four things that are killing Sears and Kmart.

Dwindling salesUndone by the Internet Out of Step, Out of Style Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/03/22/heres-whats-killing-sears-and-kmart/99486558

[plculver]

Part of Sears' decline is, sadly, their own fault. Their business practices have declined horribly. I bought an upright freezer from them a couple of years ago. Two days later, I discovered that they had double charged my card. It took two weeks, several phone calls, and a dozen or more emails to even get them to admit that they'd made a mistake. Even then, they didn't refund the money; I had to file a fraudulent charge complaint with my bank to recover it.

If you pull stunts like that, people are going to stop shopping with you.

[Uncle Fester]

Am I the only one who see's the irony of Sears being consumed by its original business model?

I wonder how many optical jobs will be affected.

[RIMLESS]

Am I the only one who see's the irony of Sears being consumed by its original business model?

I wonder how many optical jobs will be affected.

Don't laugh at Sears. Check the App Store on your phone and see how many PD measuring Apps there are. Optical is going through a transition as we speak, but a leopard never sees it's own spots.

[drk]

Am I the only one who see's the irony of Sears being consumed by its original business model?

I wonder how many optical jobs will be affected.

Wow, that's pretty good insight, Fester. Live by the mail order, die by the mail order.

Shopping habits have changed so much.

We have a nice mall in our area...very nice. State of the art. But it's mainly fun for browsing, eating, and shopping in specialty stores with a focus.

Sears, Penney's, Macy's all have these mega-anchor square footage stores which are so expensive.

Plus, the whole "department" store thing is gone downscale...you have to go to a Costco or Walmart for "everything" shopping. Otherwise you expect a specialty experience.

Sears never figured out who they were, past the mid-90's when they were overtaken by Wally. They tried to hold on by offering ridiculous "customer service" (and it was indeed a selling point) and by founding, I believe, the Discover Card which was used in their stores like crazy, along with the Sears Card. They really financed things big-time.

They used to have these "appliance" departments, too, where you could get quality products, but they had commissioned sales and it was tough to compete with the big boxes like Lowes or Home Depot.

[Chris Ryser]

I wonder how many optical jobs will be affected........................

Am I the only one who see's the irony of Sears being consumed by its original business model?

I wonder how many optical jobs will be affected.

That is a very interesting point, probably at least 2 or 3 jobs per store.