Sears: Come See The Deader Side of Sears | Retail Archaeology
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- čas přidán 25. 08. 2024
- A video tour and mini documentary about the dying retail store Sears. Footage was filmed in Mesa, AZ on 11/30/2016.
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You know, I gotta give the store manager some props here. The displays are neat and orderly, the store is clean, and everything seems to be nicely kept up. When you're working for an organizing that is in steep decline, it's very difficult to maintain a sense of pride in your work, as the cultural and corporate environments around such establishments can be very depressing, but this store looks like it's run by someone who actually cares. If I was a bigwig for another brand, I'd find out who they are and offer them a job! My hat's off to them.
R ef Bwaha. Never
hittpitch t
Person. Ur tryin too hard
hittpitch It's so clean because no one goes there lol
They dont have any customers. They cant just stand around. They might as well clean and keep it organized.
Your daughter is so well behaved and curious. As somebody who works at a very busy Target store as a cart attendant, I see SO MANY kids everyday who are the exact opposite of that. Props to you for raising her right lol
I haven't been to a sears in years and those vintage ads are just a great adition to another great video
Thank you! I have a video I did on Kmart with vintage ads in it as well if you're into that sort of thing :-) Thanks for watching!
I think today people buy their own digital cameras (or use Smartphones), transfer it to their computer and print it out (or instagram it), or get it printed on high quality printers at Costco, CVS, or other places. I don't think that many are paying for Olan Mills and similar services today. Granted some people want professional photos occasionally but I think the number is lower.
I totally agree with that people now take way more photos then ever before and how many do we print out less then 5% for me
I remember taking family photos in the 80's at Olan Mills. LOL.
Dimitri Borozny Haa! I have no Idea. My dad organized it and paid. So if there were any issues he would've straightened it out.
I think Sears is in financial trouble. I heard that some top level Executives have already fled the company and it's credit rating is now CC (almost junk bond). They are losing money and some vendors don't want to sell to them anymore. I am not insider but I suspect they will be filing bankruptcy filing sometime next year.
I think there are many reasons for Sears's demise. One is that in the retail game they have been surpassed in almost every department. Years ago they were king and almost the place for everything. But if you look at today, it appears that the clothing business has shifted toward stores like Macy's, Banana Republic, Men's Wearhouse, Kohls, and many others. The hardware business shifted toward stores such as Home Depot, Lowes, and Harbor Freight as the dominant retailers. The appliance business domiance shifted toward stores like Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, and Local Appliance Stores. Even stores like Home Depot now carry them. The Home furnishings business shifted toward stores like Ikea. Housewares are commonly bought today at Target, Wal-Mart, and other places and not as many millennials are into high end china and housewares. Lastly, years ago the Sears Catalog had everything needed for one's home, and today's "Catalog" business was surpassed by online retailers like Amazon and Ebay.
I think the reason Sears merged with K-Mart was to compete with Wal-Mart, which seemed like a good idea because K-Mart appeared to be struggling in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By that time, K-Mart's Quality tanked even when compared to Wal-Mart and Target. The merger with Sears could bring some higher quality product to K-Mart. K-Mart at the time felt like a junk store combined with a low end grocery store in terms of the merchandise they carried. The merger did improve things for a time, and I thought they would have a winner with Sears Essentials, a store that was more of an upscale K-mart that they converted some K-Marts too. But these ended up being closed with the financial crash of 2007.
All of this put Sears in their senior years of life, and pretty soon I predict their death is coming. As to how many years they will survive, or if the fate will be liquidation or a sale to someone else, or a turnaround to profitability, is anyone's guess.
If Sears did want to sell or merge with someone else, just who might want to merge with them? Target? Wal-Mart? Home Depot? Lowes? Amazon? Best Buy? Macy's? Dillards? Belk? Beals? Nordstrom? Ikea? JCPenney? Others?
Stephen Hinkle a lot of those stores you listed at the bottom are dying too. Merging would just slowly fend off the rotting of retail.
Sears has lost $10 BILLION in revenue since 2011. They also have $256 million in the bank and almost $4 billion in debt. They're closing stores to return the company to profitability, but chances of Sears returning to break even again are slim. Suppliers to the stores are becoming increasing afraid that Sears won't have the money to pay them for their products. Sears is dying a slow death and it's only a matter of time before they throw in the towel and go out of business.
My point is that I don't think that Sears has anyone that would want to buy them or merge with them at this point due to the situation.
Delta Air Lines and Pan Am can confirm that.
I read it....and incidentally, it was a lot better reading than your post.
It looks there's no one in the whole mall. Hard to blame that on Sears alone.
+Mister Hat actually the mall was very busy that evening, except for this wing where the Sears is.
Retail Archaeology Was this at the Arizona Mills mall in Tempe? I was looking up the malls in the Phoenix area, and I saw there's a Sears Outlet in that mall, and that the mall appears to be a busier one (I think this mall maybe why the Fiesta is in such bad shape), yet Sears is barely getting any sort of business.
Retail Archaeology Or was it the Superstition Springs Center (the mall that maybe causing the Powersquare to struggle)?
***** Ahh, missed him saying that. Thanks!
***** No, but I'm from a similar place in Las Vegas, NV! Desert climate, in a valley, many malls throughout the city, it's kind of similar in those regards! I look at some of the surrounding areas of Phoenix as similar to where I live, and Retail Archaeology's videos popped up in my feed as recommendations!
Safe to say I was shocked to see how bad it's gotten for a couple of Phoenix's malls, but after researching the area, I think I may know why.
My local Gastonia, NC Sears closed about a year ago...but this could have been filmed there. It looked 'exactly' like this...even down to the placement of the electronic section. Weird. EVERYONE used to go to Sears to purchase everything from underwear to a hammer. I noticed that, starting 6 or 7 years ago, the prices went up and the selection went down. Uncle-in-law retired from Sears in 2000 said it was because Sears made more money off consumer credit than actual sales. (unverified). He had worked from 1974 till 2000 at all the local Sears (we had 3...now none). He commented that, starting in the late 80's, corporate's mantra was "finance, finance, finance". What's funny is I've noticed this same trend in a lot of other stores (Target, Kohls, Belks, and Dillards) will ask "Want to put this on your store card today? If you open a new account you can save 30% on your total!!"....I had heard this from more than one former employee.
Kind of off topic but it does tie in.....back in the early-90's while stationed in Virginia Beach I had purchased. on my Sears card, a $500 VCR. I had a Senior Chief who sat me down one day and explained why using credit like this, for anything but an emergency, was stupid. He then showed me all the fine print and that if I took the entire 5 years to pay it back it would actually cost me well over $800 for this VCR. His parting comment was "never give the MAN anything you don't have to". Today I only have a house mortgage. While I still have store cards I use them sparingly for "OH CRAP!!" purchases that pop up but can't afford at the time (tires for my kids cars and a new fridge) though as I've gotten older those become less and less emergency (better at planning).
nice bike o:
Part of the Gastonia location closing was that mall itself though. Eastridge is not very appealing. Any Sears anywhere though I'm always struck by their ancient point of sale computers.
Dantastic 90's vintage for sure
Jay Raxter the Sears and jcpenny close in Monroe NC
Gastonia, NC was also the location where Danaher had a tool plant. They were the hand tool supplier for Craftsman.
I love how Sears still looks like it's straight out of the 90's. Even here in Albany NY the Sears store still has a very 90's feel to it. For some reason not many stores from that time feel the need to update.
It does give it a very time capsule-ish kind of feel which is kind of cool, but I'm don't think that's helping them business wise. Thanks for watching!
Stupidly Pink Unicorn mines in DeWitt near Syracuse NY but I know it's gonna die soon
I am about 1 hour north in Glens Falls, NY :) The Aviation Mall Sears is supposed to close down this month or so.
I'm watching this video a couple years late! I'm from the capital region! The one in Wilton mall is closed now. Wilton mall lost two anchor stores in about a year. Not good :/
@@williambaldwin9346 man Wilton and Aviation mall are both going downhill
i used to work there, and we were on commission. trust me, it was boring
Tim Kovalesky at my Sears here in Fresno, CA I always feel sorry for the Sears workers. they look like they're dying on the inside. I only go to Sears for tires and batteries for my cars. and for craftsmans tools.
Pretty much the only things keeping the Victorville, CA location alive. I might go in there to shop every five years or so, when I want Craftsman tools that are still made in the US. Don't know if that's changed, though.
Tim Kovalesky that can't be good if you got bills to pay
Brion Allan Two shopping malls in the Charleston, SC area. Sears has been an anchor tenant of both malls since they opened over 30 years ago. One is closing and the other might as well be.
thebayareapimp actually craftsman was sold to black and decker but might as well have been sold to a Chinese company as I believed black and decker is owned by a cbinese company!
my sears is one of the busiest sears out of all of them.
And where is that one located? Because my closet one is dead in terms of how many customers that comes into the Sears and it use to be part of an INDOOR MALL.
***** it's at the buckland hills mall. it's one I heard (i ask them) who's been doing really well (even not having to remove electronic section in that store (because other stores did)).
Your lucky to have one with a good electronics section then what I think mine don't has or should I say "do have." It's been awhile cents I been to my Sears, but the one I normally go to is in the Southwest Plaza Mall in Colorado. I know that one has a lack of electronic section (like that one in the video.)
***** The one at the farther away from me crystal mall, had it's electronic section removed.
I've heard there are some Sears stores that do well, but think it's a regional thing. Thanks for watching!
I think Sears declined in the 80's with the rise of specialty big box stores. It just couldn't compete in selection. Then Walmart made sure they couldn't compete on price.
It sucks because I really do like Sears, but something needs to change for them very soon. Thanks for watching!
So do I. I have memories of shopping in them in the 90s and also of playing Starfox 64 for the first time on a display unit at JCPenney. What's happening to them is sad and I want them to recover. As far as it looking like the clothes at Sears are from the 90s, that could be a good thing if they really were. I miss 90s styles, and I think women in the 90s dressed hotter. Some hipsters might dig Sears and Kmart clothes if they were 90s leftovers.
Tnb Spotter
They declined because they started selling crap.
Tnb Spotter it sucks because sears has better clothing and items in general then Walmart. And as a kid I remember how cool the big sears catalog that came out in the holidays back in the 80's was. One thing that did kill Sears was when they started having most of their Craftman tools being made in China and not here in the USA.
Can't bank on just clothing and general items, though. Sears has done little to nothing to sustain their brand through advertising, hasn't done much to update their store image over time, and their customer service: meh. Those are all things that bigger retailers like Walmart and Target take seriously. It's a very short-sighted management style from the corporate level that is causing Sears to wither.
I've been going through a lot of stress lately and I must say your videos have been keeping my mind at ease. Very relaxing and nostalgic. Keep up the good vids.
I really don't know how any of them manage to stay open. Overhead costs must be astronomical.
Yes but that thing about Sears and Kmart is that they were smart enough to put billions into the company Bank and so rather than the Company immediately declaring Bankruptcy, It slowly is feeding off of the Company Bank Account. Sears has around 20billion left of Revenue in its Company Bank, It has lost 2.2 billion since last year. The company is slowly Dying. Just like Block Buster which at its peek was valued at 5billion but lose due to its Incompetence in its Leaders buying Failing Business's (Which wasted Company Saved Revenue), To its inability to properly adapt to the Online internet Market, Even to its Controversial No Late fees Fiasco when it gave basically a Grace Period for over due DVDs and VHS's but ended in Disaster when it still continued to charge people during the 8 Days in which they could return it and pay the fee or cancel it, It made it worse when CEOs Left the company and were obligated by the company for a Severance Package, Which hurt Business even more and eventually put BlockBuster Financially unable to Declare Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (Due to the Estimated that, BlockBuster would never be able to pay off its Creditors). Blockbuster went Chapter 7 Bankruptcy thus Liquidation of all its Assets were sold off at an auction in which, Direct TV bought Majority Assets.
Sears and Kmart merged in hopes of preventing a failed Bankruptcy of both sides, Basically combining company Banking together so the company would be able to Financially be able to find its way out of the Hole since it would take more time for the Assets to be dried up.
Ah, Sears #1078. I worked in 2000 when I used to be young. I was 19 at the time. I believe I transferred to #1169 in Chandler in 2002. They were preparing to remodel into what you see now at the time. That was also the time they were restructuring into their current format of one store manager and several assistant store managers for softlines, Brand Central, Home Improvement, asset protection, auto center, and a brand new in-store marketing team. Then there were leads for the cashiers, MCAs (softlunes people on the floor), stockroom, etc. The remodel eliminated dividing walls in apparel, updated the look, and replace all fixtures. Hardware and lawn and garden swapped places as well as home fashions and Brand Central. I worked initially putting away shipments in electronics as well as filling the floor before being placed in home fashions. I was one of the few people to really learn draperies. Custom used to be located near the downstairs restrooms. If you remember, Sears spun off the Home Life stores. They were sold off to Citigroup and went under (credit card got sold to Citi as well). Sears decided to get back into mattressws and I was one of the 3 original mattress employees. We were next to the elevator where vaccuums are. We had 15 beds on the floor. This part of town never got the mattress af, so customers were always surprised they were there. Sears got more serious about mattresses in recent years because the department is huge now. Most of the store's concessions are vacant. Watch and jewelry repair has always been there. Same with optical. Portrait shut down. The vacant spot across from it was Miracle Ear. They had to shrink the office a little to fit it in, but part of the office was unused as the old pick up window was where the office door is now. Break and training room are at the rear of the office. There's also an employee entrance back there. In the men's department, the tuxedo rental was next to the elevator. H&R Block used to pop up in Sears for tax season and would set up next to the home improvement stockroom doors. The remodel converted stockriom space into a new space for them. But yeah, the Sears you see now is the result of being bought out by Kmart. And BTW, we HATED Fiesta Mall. Employees there seemed more stuck up and rude. And then that mall had stores places like Macy's, Abercrombie, and a Ben & Jerry's location. What did we have at Superstition Springs Mall? 4 ELECTRIC ORGAN STORES.
The electric organ stores always cracked me up. How many do they actually sell, lol!
Retail Archaeology One actually moved in, so Seizure World, Venture Oat, and the rest of the cast from Cocoon that calls Mesa home for at least half the year can rest easy. I had a friend who worked at one in high school. The mall was the Nordstrom of the area (back when Nordstrom used to have the baby grand piano with a live player), but with an electric organ and often less rich or sexy clientele.
When I worked at a kiosk in the mall I would always go to Sears to use the rest room because I knew it would be empty. It was always so dead. Lol.
Amazon was what has done the most damage to the Brick And Mortar stores. But The Brick And Mortar killed main street. Its a viscous cycle. Only thing in this last cycle is that the employees will be hurt. And another good video to watch. Look forward to the next.
I will say at least in my area there seems to be a resurgence in mom & pop shop business which is nice. Amazon has been horrible for brick and mortar though. I've heard more than one person call Best Buy "Amazon's show room". I have been hearing though that Amazon is experiencing a little turbulence though. They may have over extended themselves a bit much. It will be interesting to see what happens. Thanks for watching!
Yes, Amazon has been a colossal factor in retail sales drops. But, do NOT forget about the Walmart retail giant, as well. Most of the homeowners that do weekend and mundane repairs themselves will dash in to Walmart and get generic tools and supplies for less time and money. You can also grab a snack for the ride back to the house, as well.
Many years ago I went to a farm and ranch store and bought a set of Thorsen sockets and open/closed end wrenches. I also bought two extra Thorsen ratchets as I was moonlighting with a garage door installer and repair company. When you are up on a ladder of any height you do not want to be dropping sockets when you have to change sizes. So, my boss had three ratchets, one with a 3/8 socket, another for 1/2 and the third for 5/8. It was so much better to return one to the pouch and grab the next one needed already to go.
+Dimitri Borozny since when does amazon accept paypal?
Amazon customer service is also lacking. Their employes especially the ones sending the packages door to door, they would just ring your doorbell and leave the package on the floor without waitting to see if anyone is home or not. Lost a couple of packages because of this.
Scott Brown To be honest Amazon is still lacking in a lot of areas. to me being able to look at what you're buying is a big plus, I can't count the number of times my item from Amazon arrived damage in some way.
I think Sears made a mistake when they bought Kmart. I'm just surprised that malls will not touch their Sears (including the entrances) when remodeling and Sears is rarely see outside of malls. One of their store that they owned, close awhile back; that was across from a mall.
It was the other way around. Kmart bought Sears somehow as Kmart went bankrupt. The question is did Kmart send Sears down the crapper or was it already headed that way.
I just hope that they don't turn in to the next Ames, because it look like that is what is happening.
Yeah, I don't understand how putting 2 broke companies together was considered a good idea. Thanks for watching!
Sears was already on their way downhill before the Kmart purchase. I think Sears went bankrupt too before the purchase. Somehow they thought putting 2 bankrupt companies together was magically going to fix things. I think the only reason Sears is still afloat is because of regionally popular stores and the strength of their brands (Kenmore, Craftsman, ect.). Thanks for watching!
Retail Archaeology technically, Kmart Acquired Sears and the merged company took on the Sears Holdings Corp name. Sears did not previously go bankrupt, prior to its acquisition by Kmart, however, Kmart did go bankrupt in 2002.
Sears killed themselves one Chinese tool at a time.
Wolfofworld San so fucking true. ever since craftsman went China made I have not been to Sears since
Norman Rogers the old craftsman tools made in USA demand a premium on eBay now. Even Crescent brand adjustable wrenches are made in China now... sad.
Zenith TV company use to say proudly made in the USA what is made in the USA today?
Vizio.
Capitalism killed the US manufacturing market, not Sears. Favoring making money over domestic economy.
His daughter is adorable. cx
Scarlet Juniper yup the back of her head was so adorable
1 2 you must not watched whole video
Huh?
@@micahjohnsonboxing6409 can't even imagine what your on about. There's maybe a 1/4th second, blurry shot of her face at 8:01 and you can't even tell what she looks like.
I remember way back in the day, Sears was a little bit more expensive, but you were guaranteed to find what you wanted.
So sorry to see them fade away...
wait, it says come see the deader side of sears. is there a side that isn't dead?
I really like your video. It is like if the whole population except you and your daughter just disappeared. What I really like is how you inserted old Sears commercials to show the happier days when Sears was still a booming business. My grandmother loved Sears and if she could see how it is now, she would be weeping in her grave...
It really depends where the store is situated. The sears in Costa Mesa California was absolutely PACKED when I stopped by to pick up a Kmart order. In my opinion their best chance at survival is by cutting the bulk of their stores (leaving only profitable ones that SHC owns) and really emphasizing online sales. I do hope they survive, I love their SYW program.
MinifigW - Kmart owns Sears. They bought them years ago. Kmart needs to cut ties with many stores.
MinifigW best chance at survival is doing what you said, while also making their stores more modern..
But that won't happen because sears doesn't and hasnt had the money to do that in a looooong time
The Costa Mesa store is an anomaly, as pretty much ALL retail thrives in that area. Sears is in far too much debt to possibly survive.
Love that rewards program too! I was able to get so many deals at Kmart on baby and toddler clothing for my 3 year old. JCP is also a great place for kids clothes when they have a $10 off $25 coupon, plus you can earn rewards there.
You got it backwards sears owns Kmart
The Sears at my local mall got shut down a few years ago. I had a random old man come up to me with tears welling in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong, and his lip quivered.
"I-I miss Sears!" he choked, and tears traced down his wrinkled cheeks.
It is very hard to get old and watch everything you knew and loved disappear around you.
To be fair to Sears here, you have to give them credit on looking INFINITELY more modern & "cleaner" than most JCPenney stores I've ever been to...
Idk about Arizona or much of the Southwest, but here in the Midwest, where most JCP stores were built from the mid 1960's to early 80's, all the stores, Despite Mr. Johnson's (?) remodeling efforts 5 years ago, still look extremely worn out, dingy, dated & a little dirty...
After the early 2000's, when many older local Dillard's stores in my area were either COMPLETELY remodeled or closed down for good, Penney's was officially the most outdated & worn out-looking department store in the mall; even when compared to the extreme 80's-esque look of multiple Bergner's/Carson's/Younker's (ALL Bon-Ton names) locations in the rural truckstop/collegetown malls outside of town all looked like a more inviting place to hang around than Penney's...
The Sears logo is like if the SEGA logo was in italics
I like Sears they sell products and 20 years later I can sill get all the parts I need to fix the products. The employees at my local Sears are the best very helpful. I do think they need a facelift and the problem is their regular prices are too high but they do have some good sales and thats when I buy a lot of stuff.
davidbrennan5 how much does Sears or their marketing partner(s) pay to post such a comment?
nothing, I am just an average joe. They have some issues for sure, but I still am happy when my 25 year old craftsman snow blower breaks down and they have all the parts I need to fix it in stock cables, carb kits, fuel lines, gas caps, knobs, chutes, tires, shear pins etc... or I can order whatever part I need. If I buy something from Walmart and it breaks down I am screwed.
davidbrennan5 you r so pure. take care!!
Sears have historically had quality products.
As did Radio Shack, at one time.
I remember back in the 80s. Sears was packed.
Ronald Smith yes as a kid in the 80's I remember that too especially during Christmas holidays it was so awesome. I'm really sad it's going out of business
Bastage Smith
As a kid in the 2000’s sears was empty. To give you an idea. In one large space there would be like 2-4 people around you.
To be honest, I remember Sears in out mall. They always looked empty. In this big store they didn’t have golf clubs for sale! We were looking for them:
This is sad to see because sears was the first major credit card that i had got back in the early 90's.Great times back then.
Thank you for documenting these. This is sad. In 20 years no one will know what a storefront is and these videos will be all that's left. Their historical value will then be fully realized. Cute kid btw.
The sears at my local mall just announced they’re closing. It made me kind of sad because I have gone there so many times, but it’s always completely dead and the store is always a mess and so disorganized so I see why it’s going
I'm from Europe where malls have yet to die yet watching these videos is fascinating and somehow nostalgic. I could sit here all day and watching nothing but these videos and Dan bells dead mall videos.
I love the vintage ads, but if you're able to sell something for 1/2 price it was likely WAY overpriced to begin with. I do have memories of going with my mom to try on clothes. I think that's what makes these tough, kinda like Radio Shack, the nostalgia
working there omg I can't imagine the depression factor. I'm right there with you the Sears I used to go to as a kid in 90's looks totally as boring as it did before
I think the decline of Sears is symptomatic of the decline of American malls, in general. There are so many factors that play into it, but the public at large seems to want to place a succinct finger on online shopping as the kicker. A shift in economic priorities, the decline of the middle class, the drastic decrease in the purchasing of automobiles (as well as real estate urbanization), the homogenization of products that department stores tend to offer, and a lack of exciting in-store experience all play into the plight of Sears, and moreover, malls at large.
Really good cinematography man, awesome video!
Ninja Pineapple Thanks!
And now Sears is closing all 150 of their stores in Canada, laying off 12,000 workers.
I live near Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates and my local store is an absolute DUMP considering it is literally 5 minutes from HQ while at woodfield its there "Flagship" and it's still not very nice! It is probably one of nicest Sears in the Country, but still you can tell they have a clue on what shoppers like. I really wan't Sears to survive, If the go I can think of many people I know who's parents would have no jobs so I and my family try to support sears if we can. (Kmart closed it's last store in my area YEARS ago)
This particular Sears is very clean and kept nice. Nothing in the store has been updated in a long time either though, so it has a very 90s time capsule feel to it. Thanks for watching!
Most of the Sears in Houston have shut down but what have popped up are appliance-only shops and outlet stores which sell mostly appliances and some outdoor products. The prices in the outlet stores were not competitive at all from what I saw. I have alot of memories of Sears. My mom buying me clothes there when I was growing up, my dad getting tools there, family buying appliances there. That transitioned to me buying Die Hard batteries there for my cars and the lawnmower for my first house was bought there. But I never really set foot in there normally. I bought Craftsman tools at Ace Hardware on the strength of nostalgia, so there is that.
In Houston there are two iconic Sears locations still holding on. One near downtown on Main and the other on North Shephard. These are really old stores that have not been refreshed in decades. I think they remain open on the strength of bus lines that pick up near the stores. No matter how dead those stores are, it will be a sad day in Houston when those close.
Everybody's at Wal-Mart fist fighting for a TV! : l
As someone with generalized anxiety disorder.
It's always my dream, to see no one around.
XD
The Sears near me closed the electronics department. I was in there yesterday. The mall was crazy busy, and the Sears was empty.
I wonder if they're getting ready to close for good if they've closed the electronics department. They may have started the process of moving stock to other stores. Thanks for watching!
I love your coverage on the "funtronics" coverage about the Snes/nes and sega genesis games. I also grew up in the 90s and remember spending a lot of time playing Donkey Kong Country at Sears in the funtronics dept! Great video!
I worked at a now-closed Sears location for a little over a month in high school and can definitively say that I’ve never worked a more miserably boring job in my life. The store had been losing money for YEARS before I got hired... they were in so deep that they couldn’t afford to fix the air conditioner. Hot ass store, only a handful of customers every day, and minimum wage... I promptly quit and went to work at a car wash. That Sears location closed less than a year later. The company is dying.
R.I.P
Sears
Toys R Us
& MGK
I can tell that Sears is trouble because the last two locations I have been to have cut hours. They use to be open 10-9 (like the rest of the mall) but now they are only open 11-7. This is at Oviedo Mall and Indian River Mall in Florida.
Wow, those are some short hours for a Sears, especially during Christmas shopping season. Thanks for watching!
I used to like going to sears as a kid. When I was older, I bought my first toolset and toolbox from there. I still have all of it. That was back when craftsman was made in the USA. Decent stuff for the weekend mechanic. Now I look at other brands as Gearwrench and others seem to have higher quality stuff for a reasonable price. And yes, Amazon has probably been a huge killer to Sears. It's hard to beat convenience of looking at reviews and shopping from home and getting in 2 days. Once you switch or find something you like, other retailers never seem to make it in the picture anymore. It's only if I can't find it at Amazon do I even bother considering looking at brick and mortar retailer unless it's target or Costco for things like toilet paper and everyday household items. It's not really that there's anything wrong with sears, but they never seem to cross my mind anymore when purchasing anything.
Wow. This just breaks my heart because I used to work for KMart and Sears as a student. Out of gratitude and loyalty, I always want my former employers to do well and shop at their stores, if applicable.
Whenever I keep hearing that Sears is dying as a company, I believed it solely based on the business model they have. I never quite understood deeply how and why they are in trouble. They were once one of the top dogs of retail. They never adapted enough to withstand the onslaught of Walmart and the online retail industry.
I was under the illusion that they were not doing that bad because I live in Southern California, where the population is extremely diverse and dense. Not too many of the stores I have seen were dead. The true test of a retail company is how well it would fare in a community that is not near a major city. Of course, they are going to look fine in a crowded area. Duh.
So sad................ :(
yet go to any dollar store and you'll be waiting in line. people don't wanna pay for crap any more. why would you when you can find it at goodwill or a yard sale group on Facebook or Craigslist or a church sale. this is reality these days. I work every day and can barely feed my freaking dog !
Maree Bow Why pay good money for crap quality when you can pay $1 for crap quality? Either drop the prices or step up the quality.
I agree, eventually all retail stores and shops are going to be online based.
Varnished wood book shelves were $5 at yard sale (lacks back but put up against wall so doesn't matter, have cook books and other stuff on it), 2 other smaller painted white wood book shelves (use for video shelves) were $5 each with cardboard backs at different yard sale and Varnished wood dresser with 4 drawers 29.99 at Salvation Army where can you get already assembled wood products already varnished or painted in store for those prices? I have bought wood cabinet from Kmart near where I use to live before for reasonable price but I had to assemble it and paint it myself also bought plastic cabinet from local Kmart I had to assemble myself all parts were included, some people would be to lazy to do assembly and paint themselves.
How can a business run with 0 customers?
tenshi7angel They probably afraid about the Adam Walsh story in the 80's! So Sad.😥
Well, it depends on the time that you go. At the Sears I live close to it's usually fairly busy during the day time but later in the evening the number of people in the store dies down quite a bit. It could be because I live near a ghetto area though...
Well there was that little girl with no parent near by. Unless she's with retail arch guy.
@@joeb2588 lol obviously it's his daughter.
@@Andreas4696 I was being sarcastic. 😊
"Put on your Sunday best, kids. We're going to Sears." Worked for this company all through college and then for a while after. The writing was on the wall for them in the early 90s when I was there. The era of big brick and mortar retail stores has come to end.
Wow, that is so creepy to see a store so empty when it should be busy. You gotta wonder how they're staying open like that.
you may have seen by now a big article just was released on sears/kmart CEO Eddie Lampert is basically running the company into complete failure on purpose. This may make for a good documentary video. I'll see if i can find the link and post the information to you.
I haven't seen the article about the company being run into the ground on purpose. I'd love to see it.
In a way this is actually sad to see.
S****ing Peugeot I'm with you it's very sad they have been around so long and sears was so awesome in the 80's and 90's it really sad to see them go down.
S****ing Peugeot honestly, it's because of capitalism. It's engrained in us we start to empathize with corporations, it's honestly fucked up.
Taylor TM I honestly couldn't care about a faceless corporation. However, it's just the death of something that may have seemed invincible two decades ago now clearly dying. Capitalism killed Sears, and capitalism is a good thing.
Back in the 70’s my step father wasn’t apparently not paying the new ugly green carpet. Sears associate actually came to our door and threatened me that he was going to break both my arms and legs if we didn’t pay. I told my step father and I have no idea what happened next. He wasn’t happy. But pay your bills. Sears had no right to scare me, I was only 17 years old. Glad they’re going under.
In 19 85 I started remodeling Sears stores. You could tell then the writing was on the wall. They were getting rid of all the commissioned salespeople. The only thing that cared about selling was maintenance agreements extended service warranties. I also worked in the Sears tower . and in the early 90s when Sears moved to corporate headquarters to suburban Chicago and did a lot of work in there also. The joke was it was like being on the Titanic.
my local sears closed down around last year.
coincidentally, our only two kmarts in the area closed down shortly afterwards as well.
They're going quick! Thanks for watching!
Sears is now dead there closing stores in Canada
i remember when sears had a toy department in the 80s and always found cool transformers then.
This reminds a lot of The Shining with the panning shot of the kid walking down empty areas devoid of life. That said, the standout memory of Sears for me is playing a demo of Panzer Dragoon back when the Sega Saturn just came out. I remember being blown away by it.
Sears is actually doing fine in Canada.
Because all the f'ing old people are beelining to Sears
Salty Lime Suddenly, they file Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Hmm, I wonder.
How they doing now?
maybe its just in chicago because they are from here but sears is somewhat busy here, not on a walmart- target level, but they seem to be able to stay a afloat
The 90's were an okay time. But after watching this video, the 90's now feels like a time that I'm glad has passed.
Sad. When I was little, my parents would drag us down the Lincoln Park Sears for family portraits. Then in the mid 70s Fairlane Mall opened in Dearborn with a Sears department store. All our home needs were bought at Sears, Kaufmans, Corvettes, Wolworths, or K-mart (if money was tight). Sadly the layout and look of Fairlane Sears is the same as it was when it opened.
It won't be long now. Sears and K-mart are about to join Wolworths, Kaufmans, Corvettes, and Cunningham Drugs in the fond memories department.
When did you last legitamely shop at one?
I went into a Sears 2 weeks ago, but they didn't have what I was looking for. I ended up finding what I needed at another store in the mall. btw, I love the stuff you've been doing with the Top Hat Gaming Man. Tell him Erik from Mad Ape Productions says hello 😄
let's face it Sears and K Mart are doomed
Alan Kozak for the most part yeah. Kmart will die off long before Sears as a whole company does.
Yeah it's so sad to see them go but I quess that's life :(
Alan Kozak Radio Shack too. They're dying off and probably gonna be out of business sooner or later, they're closing a huge amount of stores.
I always liked their vacuums. I still use my Kenmore Progressive canister to this day. Their vacuums are actually highly rated. I even use a mid 80s beige Kenmore canister at my workshop band practice room and love it.
Panasonic manufactured many of their vacuums, depending on the model #.
That first ad sure brought back memories.
In the mall, besides shopping, the internet also killed socializing. For example, when I was in high school (1980's), before the internet, we mainly went to the mall to socialize. That was our networking.
Does anyone else feel kind of sad for Sears?
No because they blew it on their own.
Charles Peckham The CEOs were greedy and ignorant. They took huge bonuses and refused to invest any money into updating their company. They refused to even attempt to keep up with changes happening in retail and their customer service is horrid so new customers aren't attracted to the stores as the old ones die off. They did it to themselves.
Yes and no, I'm not sorry for the CEOs and hot shots who dug their own grave. I am sad however to see childhood memories of shopping in these stores fade away. It's nostalgic, for me at least.
I feel for the remaining employees.....Why are buying a Bill-Of-Goods from Eddie Lambert!
a 2 story SEARS? *head explodes*
Both of the Sears stores near me are 2 stories :-) I filmed parts of the other one in my video about Fiesta Mall. Thanks for watching!
mxt87 One in my city is 3 stories!!
Never heard of a SEARS less than 3 stories
mxt87 Yep those exist.Kinda nice.
I remember some of those vintage ads. Now I pass through the Sears to get to the mall whenever my daughter and I go there.
You're right - it's like a time capsule.
I got a gift card for Sears this past Christmas season. I was baffled about what I would buy at Sears because I knew they had nothing I wanted. I ended up buying some Craftsman tools for my toolbox since I was lacking a good set of sockets and a good quality ratchet. I couldn't help but notice one thing that was missing since I was last there. The entire electronics section save for a small, standalone shelf with random merchandise was gone. There was no stereo equipment, no TVs, no video games... nothing. Aside from the electronics section, the store itself didn't have many people there. I saw one or two random people, but the rest of the people there were employees. The appearance of the store really hasn't changed since the 90's. When Sears announced their 150 stores set to close, I was almost expecting to see my local Sears on the chopping block. Apparently the place was profitable enough to carry on. With Sears in dire straits, I wonder how long my local Sears store is gonna last. I also wonder how long the company itself is gonna last. Only time will tell.
Sears has not put any money into updating or remodeling their stores in years, it is like they know the end is coming so why bother making the effort.
John Stone They can't afford it. They have negative income.
local forecast music
KirbyVGCP it's called Vaporwave. it's a genre based on 90s nostalgia. if you like the music, I highly recommend checking out the genre.
peace & love i first time heard that music on roblox
Yeah SSJraditz, but the song is literally called "Local Forecast - Elevator "
I live in Florida and the sears at aventura mall was recently demolished. A sears in Pembroke lakes mall was cut in half to make way for an AMC theater
Just remember the security cameras were watching your every move! lol
well if you don't mind but I'd like to offer up some facts and theories of why malls and retail is dying!!
my main reason given is that their is an income problem throughout the country and all classes!! I know it's a simple answer but a true one people don't have the Money to support the shop till ya drop mentality that the mall concept is built upon!!
I will also go-ahead and get my factual bashing out of the way about many of the types of stores to occupy malls especially as anchor stores!!
Sears Penny's Macy's Kohl's and many more similar to this style of store have one big problem!! (over pricing) and (fake sales) but let's take a look at Sears shall we?? umm as this video shows what I've been saying for a long time now.. no one buys appliances at Sears I'd advise getting rid of the appliance department and continue to make money farming out the Kenmore brand in the meantime I'd carry something that does sell like umm let's see I'm thinking of an item Sears used to sell back when they was an every man's store humm what could it be?? GUNS yay things sell guns they sell real good these days!!
well Sears's real overall problem is they don't sell anything and they have gone to a pretend but pricey upscale forms much like Penny's had done long ago!!
now back to detail over all...
okay so by now some of you or perhaps even the host of the channel himself is just dying to tell me all about the wonderful world of online shopping and how that's killing these gems of over priced merchandise!! lol please let's examine the popular theory closer!!
okay so some of you remember Sears and Penny's catalogues right?? I know just hear me out! well in decades past most brick and mortar stores offered and or just plainly sent out catalogues it was away for some who didn't live close to the store to shop and or merely browse items!! it also was cheap advertising!! the main point here is this..
that all the brick and mortar stores had a catalogue/mail order business and their was lots of catalogue only based companies and all was well in retail... but one day the internet came and humm what happened??
well first order of business was to instead of printing paper catalogues
move the catalogue to the (internet) where it shall be available to everyone at anytime and can be updated at any time!! in fact 20 years ago most stores referred to the shopping section of their websites as the (catalogue) or online catalogue!! hopefully you know where I'm going with this!! but I'll continue for those who don't know!!
so basically the website is nothing more than the stores catalogue but as the brick and mortar stores all have a website in which you can buy from well humm they are the online market they are just as online retail as much as Newegg or Tigger direct or even Amazon they are all e-commerce!! thus I'd say they make up a good 95-98℅ of the online retail trade just as they did back in the days of the catalogue they was also 95-98% of that market as well and never whined that it was killing them!! also retail trade in general is all stuck following the same trends thus let's break it down it won't take long ok!!
so if brick and mortar stores are having trouble humm let's check another form of retail how's the car market umm not good either how about housing yeah not well oh boy how about online retail not good and it hasn't been either for the past 5+ years online retail isn't really that great especially the holiday numbers have been running way below expectations!!
so why all the fuss about online retail?? why is the internet the boogie man of retail??
well to understand this we must look to the 1990's for the answer this won't take long either!! okay who remembers the mid to late 90's??? ojay good.. now some smaller retailers went under back then but lots of those companies had high debts and a bad cash flow problem and undergone expansion too fast (they out grew their money supply) for reordering inventory!! some also issued store credit to folks to didn't pay but lots of the time they just plain blew money and bought up competition and over paid!! lots of these issues for many of these companies can be traced back to the 80's!!
bottom line though I'm no defender of Walmart I can still say that in most cases the demise of these companies was due to their own making and changing of the times and or the economy of an area changing!!
but what happened well it was a thing for executives from the dead companies to get on the news and or in the news paper and scream it was Walmarts fault!! so their you have it the trend set in the 90's was blame Walmart never take responsibility for bad management of a company thus making Walmart a boogie man of retail!!
ahhhh but the tables have turned yet again in the long tale of retail and now that Walmart has experienced difficultly and has been forced to close locations and lay off management they too have joined the crowd and are calling blame on the Internet when in fact it's really nothing more than people don't have the money!! I know the government doesn't want to admit that but why aren't the stores??? it seems as if they would like too deflect attention from this fact!! but regardless for the hand they've played in not getting with the times and offering deals and real sales rather than fake pretentious they fail to take responsibility and are then riding upon a sinking ship!!
I mean after all if they sell food stuffs like your gas station and Walmart Target and just any grocery store they probably take food stamps.. point that's how they been making money notice how they all busted their asses to take them?? they are the real welfare recipients but the common person don't see that they read that far into it thus they get away with it!!
much like how they create a boogie man the media runs with it and before you know it everyone cant imagine a world where online shopping didn't hurt brick and mortar stores!!
I disagree with the mainstream narrative in fact I find it an over blown myth!! for instance take two companies a&b company a made 8million last year and company b made 6 million okay so company a made more money big whoop company b isn't unprofitable and they don't have to make the same amount of money to be competitive with company a so they are still competition and will not be throwing in the towel any time!!
thus when people say things like well but Amazon made more Money than Walmart or Target I'm like so what that doesn't mean much from a market that's not doing well in any format especially since this past summer Amazon was exposed to not actually be the best deal as they proclaim!!
Truth is internet shopping was a novelty 20 years ago the novelty has wore off!! yes people still do it but most do a combo of online and brick and mortar stores thus dividing up the business they do between the format's without realizing it!!
so I refuse to buy the big bad boogie man story made up as an excuse by bad management!! with that I think I'm done now lol!!
Matthew Henry far out, you wrote an entire thesis.
Raf Tash well I also have a video on the entire topic made in January of this year please check it out!!
Matthew Henry interesting I wouldn't doubt that people don't have money these days the minimum wages should have gone up 5-7 years ago
***** except they kept rasing minimum wage every year over an 8 year period!! In most states!!
That never have nor will solve the problem!! Via it just adds inflation!!
It provides an excuse to raise prices thus the food rent and other bills will go up with it!!
J.C. Penny's plain pocket jeans were a more affordable alternative to name brand jeans.
ad. some vapour wave xD
Ｍｏｒｅ ＡＥＳＴＨＥＴＩＣＳ
Vaporwave isn’t aesthetic anymore. It’s too saturated with stupid memes
I don't know why I find these videos so fascinating, but I do!
Love the music, wish Sears played that, people would come and listen and soak up the atmosphere.
mall are also dying to online shopping
why do american sears seem so horrible compared to Canadian ones
om puri I thought the same! I just watched one video where there were zero employees, the store had lots of merchandise looked nice but was virtually abandoned. The guy even said that if he was a thief he could have taken everything and no one would have noticed so crazy
sears employees are just lazy in america and made a mess of their stores
om puri because there is still white people in Canada.
Because Sears stores are dying over here similar to how Canadian Targets were
Canadian targets have been dead since 2015
edit: I read were sorry about that
Here are all the non closing Sears locations: 1. Burbank, California. 2. Concord, California. 3. Stockton, California. 4. Whittier, California. 5. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 6. Miami, Florida. 7. Orlando, Florida. 8. Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. 9. Braintree, Massachusetts. 10. Frederick, Maryland. 11. Jersey City, New Jersey. 12. Newburgh, New York. 13. Greensboro, North Carolina. 14. Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. 15. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 16. El Paso, Texas. 17. Tukwila, Washington. 18. Union Gap, Washington. A total of 18 non closing Sears stores. Separately, there is a booming separate company called Sears Mexico, owned by billionaire Carlos Slim that is doing quite well in Mexico
Unfortunatley this is extremely accurate. I'm an employee of Sears and know how this goes. /: the registers are older than me. Our electronics section literally has 3 TV's because we're trying to phase it out. Lots of empty shelves and empty space upstairs (where we keep our electronics, mattresses, appliances, and housewares)
I noticed the register were super old at this Sears too. I meant to point that out but forgot to. Thank for watching!
Mexicans must not like Sears as much as we Cubanos in Miami do. Our's are usually very busy. No worries bro cuz Sears is not in any danger of closing or going out of business. They do very well with the Sears.com market place and the Kenmore appliance brand is still the best selling brand in the industry. The media makes a big deal whenever they announce a store closing but Sears is one of the only stores that own the buildings and land that their stores are located. It sucks when that land is attached to a "dead mall". At least the dude that owns the company is LOADED and sitting on a huge reserve of his own cash. He must be cheap as fuck though and you are right that both Sears and Kmart are in desperate need of face-lifts. I used to model for Sears as a kid. They haven't had a change in their stores since their big 1993 "Come see the many sides of Sears" campaign.
Kip Paseo They do. They come shopping for things like appliances here and take them across the border because they're too expensive in Mexico. We had them often in the Chandler store.
Kip Paseo Sorry to say this, but Sears is in very danger of going out of business, they've loss nearly 10 billion dollars over the past 10 years and have sold many of their best assets, Moody's and Fitch rating services believe they will file for chapter 11 within 2 years, and although chapter 11 doesn't necessarily mean they will go out of business, in this case they will continue to shrink themselves out of existence.
Not everything is more expensive in Mexico bro. I've gotten weed from there that was C A F! LOL
Kip Paseo Of course not. Small appliances? Yes. Oranges that have orange colored peels? Probably (they are in Ecuador). But drugs and chihuahuas are a dime a dozen down there.
I read that Kenmore, Diehard, and Craftsman brands are up for sale and that sears had a loss in the billions the last couple years.
fortune.com/2016/12/09/why-sears-failed/
Sears has done it to themselves, I'll be glad when Sears finally dies.
All the shops in New Zealand are designed like this (Warehouse, Countdown, Pak n Go). The whole country is stuck in a 90s time loop.
I was working at Sears back in 1992 in the young men's department ( I was a young man at the time, age 18) back when they launched "The Softer Side of Sears" campaign. The idea was to shift from their tools and appliances to clothing in an effort to make Sears seem more fashionable. The problem was their clothes sucked. The employees knew it too. I remember me and my coworkers snickering when Sears stores had their launch parties to announce the new campaign. The public didn't buy it, and this began the many missteps made by the Sears corporate powers back in the 90's which began their slow decline into the dustbin of retail history.
I hope all the sears close down.
If Sears goes under, it will be sad. When I was a kid, my dad bought a lawn mower there (this was in the 70's) and after a couple of weeks it stopped working. He brought it back to Sears and the salesman told him to grab a new one off the floor, no questions asked. They had my dad hooked for life. From then on my dad would ONLY shop at Sears. We used to make a day out of it on Saturday when he would take the whole family shopping there. We would eat in their cafe and ALWAYS brought a big box of popcorn home. That popcorn would last the entire weekend. If Sears dies, goodbye old friend.
I worked for a local Sears from 2012 to 2013, it liquidated and closed a year after I left. It seemed most of the business came from online orders. I do remember that two security workers were caught committing a card scam and eventually the position was done away with.
Where I worked A bunch of security & receiving personnel got busted selling TVs n shit off the back dock! 🤦♀️
From my experience, the Sears in the Tucson area aren't exactly filled with customers but they're doing alright.
I remember going to Sears with my mom growing up as a girl. I remember the store used to be full withe customers and long lines, especially on the weekends. I even went to Sears with my aunt and cousin from time to time. What I liked at Sears was watching the dishwasher demo where you get to see how the inside of the dishwasher washes. Now, Sears is dead as a door nail because no one shops there and my cousins claim that Sears is a store for old people. Not even the old people shop at Sears like that anymore. It's sad that these stores are dying.
That is surprisingly clean and well-maintained for a Sears.
I think the reason even well-run Sears stores are dying may be in part because of the public's perception of the company's demise, which would make shopping there depressing from the get-go. Not everyone has a vulture-shopper's perspective, and you want to support a store that'll be there for you later. In other words, Sears' death-spiral has become a psychological thing.
I knew Sears was going off the beam when I heard of the building of the Sears Tower. It just struck me wrong at the time, and I knew Sears would eventually be in trouble. With a little foresight and some decent management, Sears could have become Amazon.
Great video. The last item I bought from Sears Canada that day was a speed rope. Had a little chat with with employee selling watches and reminiscing about the times I went to the store as a kid. It was actually one of the better locations that once featured a cafeteria.
Sears has just the right things for everyone this Christmas! 0:31 Kid open's up a coffee maker
How depressing it must have been to work there until the bitter end.
I spent 11 years in retail management with Sears right out of college. This was in the 70s when Sears was number one in all of retail. I left to buy my own business in 1978, and I had real mixed feelings doing it because I was on track to being a Store Manager. That job was paying well into six figures, and that was a lot in 1978. In retrospect, I made the right decision to leave. Even my promised great Profit Sharing agreement was gone! It truly makes me sad what happened, but it is the result of poor top management decisions.