Could This Be the End? Sears Files for Bankruptcy
Have you heard the news?
Sears, the major retailer originally founded as Sears, Roebuck, and Co. in 1893, announced that they have filed for bankruptcy. 😮 Sadly, the company has been struggling for years, but the final stroke was a $134 million debt payment that was due October 15th – which could not be paid.
Sears plans to close these 142 unprofitable stores near the end of the year, in addition to the 46 previously announced stores that are expected to be completed by November 2018. Liquidation sales at the newly announced closure stores are expected to begin shortly, so be sure to watch for signs if your store is on the closure list.
While many Sears and Kmart stores are closing, approximately 687 profitable stores and its online and mobile platforms – employing over 65,000 workers – will remain open for business. Sears will also continue to honor Shop Your Way Rewards and credit card rewards programs for members.
The company dates its history back to 1886 when Richard W. Sears, a railroad agent in Minnesota, received a box of errant watches and then sold them to other agents. Sears grew into one of the nation’s largest corporations, redefining the American shopping experience in the process.
It’s sad, but not surprising if you’ve been in a sears store lately.
I think the stores in Indiana at least most of them are in the final days of closing now
Heather I know the castleton store is closing for sure
Surprisingly, the Sears and Kmart in my area of South Florida continue to survive. I went to the 2nd floor a few weeks ago for some clearance beach towels and the only 2 people up there on a Saturday afternoon were employees. It felt so weird and sad. I get a lot of my 8-yr-old’s clothes from there because of all the Freecash and points-back offers. However, if they took that away I’m not sure I would still shop there as much
Me too. I get my child’s clothes there with the Freecash. When the points are all gone, there will be no more incentive to shop there. :o(
Sears near me already closed in September.But a new store was also opened last week 18 miles away.
I’m just worried about my mom’s card. She only has the store card, but she has had it for 40 years. Her average account age and overall available credit will take a hit when it is canceled. I highly doubt Citi will do a product change on a store only card.
Cancelling a credit card doesn’t hurt your credit. Opening cards you may take a hit but if your not planning to buy a home or vehicle it recovers quickly if you pay your bills on time. My credit is perfect and I opened an Amazon cc because they have no foreign transaction fees and it went back up within a few months. Having the same card for 40 years is really good!!
Depending on your total available credit, closing a credit card with a high credit limit could hurt your credit score, particularly if you have high balances on other credit cards or loans. If you have zero balances, your credit utilization rate is zero, and won’t be impacted by the loss of a balance.
Her Sears card has a $10,000 limit. My mom hasn’t used her Sears card in a long time. The loss of that available credit likely won’t hurt her too much. She barely uses any of her credit cards. The ones that do get used are only used about 1 – 4 times per year. She pays the balance in full when the statement comes.
That’s what we do, we never carry a balance and pay our card off every month. We use it for the cash back. Your mom will be fine, it won’t affect her, especially since it’s barley used.
Canceling a really old card also hurts your credit by lowering your average account age. Your average account age is a part of your credit score. The older the average, the more experience a creditor thinks you have using credit. That’s why you should keep your oldest card open if it doesn’t have an annual fee. You don’t even have to use it regularly. Just use it once a year for a drink at a fast food restaurant or some other small charge. Then the issuer likely won’t close it.
The store in boise,idaho is closing. Havent bought anything from them for years. Our last experince with them we bought a upright freezer and brought it home plugged it in,did not get cold after 3 days. Returned it bought another and the second one stopped working after 3 months and they did not want to take it back.
We wrote online reveiws and complaibs and went there on a saturday to talk to a supervisor and finally they accepted to take it back. That was the last time we shopped with them.
The sears and kmarts by me closed a couple years ago so unfortunately this news isn’t surprising. Seems stores closing is the new norm
Stores will continue to close as more and more people enjoy the non hassle of shopping online.
I’m sad as well. I remember Sears/Kmart in the 70’s and 80’s and always thought they were fun to shop. (past tense) I would be SO surprised if they make it after the holiday season ends. The Sears near me is not all that bad, but the Kmart is HORRIBLE. They have some of the worst people working there. They really make you work to spend your money there. One time I went into the store after 5 days as they hadn’t filled my online order and took the item off the shelf, brought it up to Customer Service and asked them to please fill the order NOW. It totally defeated the purpose of online ordering…..ridiculous!
I’m not at all surprised, when my kids were little I would shop at sears all the time , but as years pass by they declined in everything, sales, customers service etc….the one in nj where we shopped closed and another one made the list today…but the one in greenwood in we went to when we moved here , was absolutely horrible we ordered a washer and dryer and 5 minutes before they were to deliver it we get a call and the lady just told us the guy quit and left the truck somewhere with the washer and dryer , and they couldn’t deliver for another week , we went into the store and cancelled the order noone apologized asked why or anything, customer service to me is everything…dont even get me started with kmart I think they should of been out of business ages ago !!! Very outdated!!!
Welp, I’m finally losing all of my kmarts. I have an online order sitting there as we speak. Four training bra/panty sets for my daughter for under $2 oop thanks to FREECASH. They are closing both of my kmarts, leaving 1 sears.
For the longest time, I only bought appliances from Sears and used their auto repair. They stood for quality. Sad to see them go even though the stores around me closed a bit ago. And the Kmart in my area has finally succumbed. Sad. Very sad.
I’ve never been a fan of Sears; can’t say that I’m sad. They’ve already closed all the Kmarts around me, and Sears is barely hanging on. Last time I went in there it was like a ghost town, shelves weren’t even stocked, hardly anyone in there. It was really weird, felt like they were going to be closing soon. Sears never kept up with the times, even in the 90s the clothes were so out of style, left over from the 80s it felt like. Sears is where you went for appliances.
I’m really bummed. At one time, I had 2 Sears and 4 Kmarts close to me. In the past 18 months all but 1 has closed. They announced today that the last Kmart in my area will be closing. My husband and I both come from large families and have many to buy for at Christmas and for birthdays, the freecash really helped out. This past Easter, I pretty much did 3 great baskets for my kids for pennies.
My Sears is closing and another and I guess were the last two stores in Washington state left. I have to met I’m not going to be sad that it’s gone because I haven’t shopped there in so long I can’t even remember all of the Kmart have already close down years ago but I am sad still that Mervyns closed and that was many many years ago
I used to love reading and re-reading the wishbook at Christmas as a kid. Honestly though, they stopped trying in those stores a long time ago. I briefly worked at a sears in college and the computer systems were 20 years out of date, the pay was bad, and training nonexistent. More recent visits show that little of that has changed.
And Kmart isn’t cheap enough for Walmart shoppers and not stylish enough to compete with Target. They never found their niche. I hope they can turn it around and get some fresh buyers and new ideas. I really liked shopping there when they had the Martha Stewart line – the stuff was so cute.
That was perfectly said, “not cheap enough for Walmart shoppers and not stylish enough for Target shoppers.” Theres just no place for them in areas that have both of those stores.
I so hope not. I have had their credit card for 39 years now and would hate to lose it. Yes it was one of my first “local/department store cards back in the day. Use it still and I like shopping there and at Kmart. great deals to be had.
I love my SEARS because of Shop Your Way Rewards I’ve gotten SOOOOOO Many free stuff from playing those little win it apo and when they have deal like spend 15 get 15 and so on
This post almost brought tears to my eyes. My dad worked at Sears his whole working life. He started in the shoe department in his twenties and worked his way up to manager. He was moved and given a catalog store in the early 80’s. Then Sears made some major changes in the early 90’s and my parents became owners of a Sears dealer store (it was a smaller single building with mainly appliances and TV, lawn care, etc.- they called it “the innovative side of Sears”). He sold the store about 6 years ago but still gets rent on the building- it’s their main source of retirement income. I have so many memories of POURING over the wishbook. I didn’t even know people got Christmas gifts any other way until I was an adult! My dad would pay my brother and I to do inventory a couple times a year, I started filing paperwork in middle school ($2/hr… thanks dad!) and Black Friday was almost a cuss word at our house!! But the returns we could buy for super cheap were worth it (here’s lookin’ at you air hockey table with a busted side). My dad’s Sear’s catalog collection from the 20’s is so fun to look at- you could literally buy a house, from a catalog!! So, yeah, Sears is special to our family. Sad to see it go.
Me, I’m here saying prayers that it doesn’t close 🙁
Awww 🙁 thanks for the story Marisa.
I have seen those 20s catalogs online with bring sale to buy a house. Crazy fun lol. Sounds like you have wonderful memories of the store. People sometimes forget that it isn’t just a business going under but part of people’s lives. Thanks for sharing!
Marisa, it was a National Holiday the day the Sears Wish Book and the Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog arrived. We spent hours pouring over those things, week on end. In Portland the news did a report on the area houses that were ordered from Sears and the whole house supplies arrived on a railroad car. Sears was a life saver for rural families who had limited shopping in little towns too.
Very very sad to me. I love shopping at both 🙁 . I’m going to go there this weekend and stock up… And go as much as I can the next few months LoL! I Always bought alot of gifts at Kmart, they get some neat stuff in that others don’t have. The Sears near me closed two years ago but they opened a new smaller one last year. My dad always bought his appliances at Sears.
I also love Shopyourway and the points but even without it, I still find good items in-store. Almost all of my kitchen towels are still bright and going strong years later. They all came from Kmart….I got each holiday towel there (Christmas, Halloween, thanksgiving, easter, valentines, St Patrick’s day and so on). I love kitchen towels LOL! Also one of the many Christmas trees I own came from Kmart, it is a purplish/pink and is beautiful. Anyway I would be sad to see them go as a whole but I’m glad for now that one store is left by me. I’d rather run into Kmart and grab toliet paper and Kleenex then go into Walmart and get it!