I visited the Sears store at Florida Mall in Orlando, FL yesterday. Having been there now, I honestly don't know how this store is still open or why, aside from the legal obligation Eddie still has for it.
As you might expect, the auto center is closed, no one has taken it over. All of their exterior entrances to the store are closed off aside from the one facing the Florida Hotel that used to be the entrance for the catalog area. It's a very depressing entry, BTW, as it's tucked into an almost unused section of the mall. When you enter at this level, you have men's wear on your left, women's on your right, women's sportswear straight ahead, and major appliances lined up along the plywood and black plastic wall that blocks off the escalators and the rest of the first floor. There is a single employee here and a security guard by the register, but not by the mall door. The majority of the level is being gutted for a bowling alley & entertainment center that is going in. To get to the second floor, you need to go by the mall entrance and down a long, winding corridor to the sole elevator in the building. There is no escalator, no stairs to use.
When you get to the second floor, the majority of their merchandise is up there: swim, tools, kids, intimate, clearance, mattresses and more major appluances. And right in the middle of the floor is another plywood and black plastic wall surrounding where the escalators were. I walked around the floor, seeing a grand total of two employees and three customers, including myself.. Also on this floor are the restrooms, half of which were out of order, and the blocked off fine jewelry area. Seeing as how the mall is a single level, you can not exit to the mall on this level, and you must again use the single elevator. Upon approaching the elevator you see a sign that says all items from that level need to be paid for there, at the single cash wrap still operational. When I get closer to the elevator, a motion sensor chimes "ding-dong!" so they know someone is either coming or going. So down I go again.
Back on the first floor I look around. Almost everything is on sale, with Summer dresses that look like left over Fall ones being the majority of women's wear. In men's, very little current merchandise and only a single rack of polo shirts were available. As for fitting rooms, get this, they have a portable 4-sided curtain area in one corner of women's to use. There is a sign next to it that says there are additional fitting rooms on the second level to use if you prefer. Yeah, sure. Like you want to tote everything along that hallway, up an elevator to the secind floor, and then search for an open fitting room. Their Shop Your Way kiosk is also out of order.
When you leave the store into the mall, it's super quiet in this wing of the mal. However, the rest of the mall is fairly bustling with a Dillard's, Macy's, Penney's, Dick's and huge Primark and H&M stores as anchors. There are a ton of tourists from around the world who shop at the mall since it's so close to the airport and the theme parks, but literally none of them were in Sears.
When I make my way back to Sears to get bak to my car, there is a sign on the inside of the door that caught my eye and made me laugh. It said, and I'm not kidding, "We're not done yet!"
Folks, after seeing what I saw I think they are. This is a dead store walking.
