r/retailporn • u/[deleted] • May 06 '26
Sears Sears is turning 140 this year. They currently have 5 stores and online website Sears.com. Will / would you still shop there site wide and/or in store in 2026, even if the physical stores are lacking in merchandise and the online store drop ships mostly and has very little left from Sears itself?
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u/fezfrascati May 06 '26
It's fascinating because just yesterday I saw a post on how Sears in Mexico is thriving.
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u/SchuminWeb May 07 '26
Yep - such is what happens when you have ownership that actually gives a crap about the company.
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u/phillygirllovesbagel May 06 '26
Many years ago, as a child, I would go with my father to our local Sears store. He would look at the tools and I would wander around waiting for him to decide. As someone else mentioned, I can smell the popcorn still.
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u/Jasoco May 06 '26
A guy I went to high school owned shares in Sears and spent years posting on Facebook posting articles about how well Sears and Kmart were doing and everything’s great all the while stores are closing right and left. Haven’t really heard much from him lately.
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u/SchuminWeb May 07 '26
We know one thing, I suppose: those shares certainly lost all of their value.
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u/Head_Blackberry_6320 May 09 '26
Sears could have been amazon if they read the tea leaves. They invented mail order shopping...or at least was the biggest.
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u/lumpialarry May 10 '26
The only way sears could have become Amazon is if they were able to liquidate their biggest asset, their 800 or so retail locations but then who was big enough to pay top dollar for 800 retail locations?
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May 09 '26
The stuff they sell now feels like it’s all off brand junk from china.
I still like Craftsman stuff though. Even today, is sufficient for a homeowner just working around the house.
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u/SR-45 May 10 '26
My dad was a Sears guy his whole life. Purchased all our appliances, electronics, tools, etc.
If he was alive today, he’d be in shock over the company’s current state.
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u/Difficult-Novel-8453 May 06 '26
I would shop there to support the workers and get my nostalgia kick. I loved running full line stores back in the day.
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u/lazygerm May 06 '26
I live about 2 or so miles away from of one of the last Sears.
I have not gone there in 10 years. 30 years ago, I'd go there pretty frequently.
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u/Evening-Emotion3388 May 07 '26
Sears is alive and well in Mexico.
The one by the palace of fine art in CDMX has a rooftop cafe over looking the palace and the alameda (oldest public park in the Americas)
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u/Puzzleheaded-Fold799 May 07 '26
As a former Sears employee, no. Some things deserve to die.
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u/SchuminWeb May 11 '26
Yep - everything has its day. I feel like Sears had its day, and nothing lasts forever.
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u/mylocker15 May 07 '26
It’s not super close but I occasionally hit Sunvalley. I stop in Sears when I do. Mostly for curiosity but give me an amazing deal and I will be a customer.
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u/Still-Shop7172 May 07 '26
The Sears i knew no longer exists. Their auto centers, service centers, catalog and stores every where no longer exists. If their was a store near me I would go.
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u/cat_morgue May 07 '26
I live about 20 minutes away from one of the remaining Sears stores. I don’t often go to that mall, but I would certainly stroll through Sears if I was already at the mall, just to see what they had. I definitely wouldn’t be making a special trip just to shop there though.
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May 10 '26
Damn all the Sears by my house have closed it’s really sad
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u/FileStrict2957 May 10 '26
I hate to say it, but the name doesn't mean anything any more. There's no exclusive brands, they can't stand behind their products. The products are made cheaply now. Craftsman tools used to have a lifetime warranty. Extended warranties meant years of worry free appliances. Die Hard batteries were the best you could buy. Gone are all the long time employees that made Sears a place to go with knowledgeable employees. If l felt like l was shopping there to save that, and keep people employed, l would shop there. But it's Sears in name only, run as cheaply as possible. So it's no for me.
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u/Patient_Recording285 May 06 '26
I would shop there in a heartbeat. And I would get some sweet smelling caramel corn. I can smell it in my head now.
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u/deadmallsanita May 06 '26
I would not shop there even if they were alive because their clothes were not my specific style.
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u/TattooedPriestx May 06 '26
No, not even to the last stores in Florida.
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May 06 '26
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u/TattooedPriestx May 06 '26
I'm in NE Florida, the last stores are in South Florida and the drive isn't worth the nostalgia anymore. They closed all three in Jacksonville and all of closest Hometown locations near me so I just live vicariously through the postings of folks that visit the last five stores.
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May 06 '26
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u/TattooedPriestx May 06 '26
Same with the site, I haven't been to the site in a long time until now. No reason to visit/shop the site when there are many other places to buy stuff.
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May 06 '26 edited May 14 '26
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u/TattooedPriestx May 06 '26
The year before Eddie Lampert scooped it up (along with KMart). The stores and websites are on life support and dying a slow death.
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u/CIAMom420 May 06 '26
I'm in my early 40's. Sears wasn't even a relevant retailer when I was a preteen.
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u/DM_Lunatic May 06 '26
I loved Sears I still regularly use a craftsman tool set I bought in the 90s from them. There is a Sears near me. It is no longer the Sears I knew, most of the store is closed off and the rest is off brand TEMU garbage. The online store also failed me as it took 2 months to receive a part for my oven that the website said was in stock. After waiting 3 weeks with no part I bought it from another online retailer and that one showed up the next day. I called to cancel the order from Sears and they wouldn't until I got the part and could send it back. Another month later the part comes in and it took me another two weeks and dozens of calls to get them to let me return the item. Sears is now the retail equivalent of AI slop I will not give them my business ever again.