Yes, Sears sold kit houses.. Sears Modern homes- wikipedia
Yes, Sears sold kit houses.. Sears Modern homes- wikipedia
I loved that Christmas catalog as a kid. I was usually overseas with Dad so it was the only link to the good ole US of A.
Now the only reason to go to Sears is to return Lands End merchandise. No return shipping!
I'm sure that doesn't help their bottom line either.
Amazon is the new sears and Roebuck. Yawn. When does he bext one come around
In Canada, when I was a kid, there was Simpson Sears, which later dropped the Simpson, Eatons, and the Hudson Bay- yes, the Hudson Bay company established in 1670. Eatons was a huge Canadian company that went down in the 80's, I think. Sears is struggling, but I think they still have a couple of monster stores down east. The Bay opened a couple of lower class store chains, but they are still suffering.
More to the point, Sears and such offer something increasingly rare. I needed a new dress shirt this past summer. I went to a fairly high end mall in Calgary with my daughter, because anybody who would buy a dress shirt at Walmart would probably actively seek out a polyester leisure suit. First menswear store I see, I know I'm in the wrong place. Three sales associates, all about 5'5", with modern hair...They measure my neck, arch their brows in a "Hmmmpph...blue collar 19 inches pffftt." kind of way, and suggest they have a very good custom made shirt program. I smile, pat the guy on his man bun, and head for the Bay, where I was able to find a few 19/36 slim fit good quality shirts for a semi reasonable price.
I hope the old mid range department stores can find a way to stay alive.
petegossett wrote: The girl at the register did almost everything short of groveling to get me to sign up for their credit card. At one point she said "If you sign up today your whole order will be free." Still not worth it...
A similar experience I had when o bought my garage door opener. Guess what the interest rate on it is. 29%. Guess how often I use it? Maybe once a year.
Only live a coupla few minutes from the local Sears, pass it almost daily. Haven't been there in more than over a year tho. Convenient for tools last minute but nothing that I can't get somewhere else so it's become an afterthought. Still glad it's there but I doubt it'll last for the duration.
I realized about 10 years ago that they were done. I had a problem with my Kenmore washer and it was this >> << much out of warranty. They had already came and reapired it 3 times on my dime and when repair #3 didn't fix it I called the store. Got to speak with the store manager and told her of all of the Sears and Craftsman products in my house. She actually told me that having all of those things made no difference to her offering me any help. When I asked her about that and that she was alienating a lifetime Sears customer she outright told me that she was sorry. Not that I felt it was from the heart. She credited me the repair costs toward a new washer.
That was the last > $50 purchase I have ever made there.
Scott
One of the poopy execs I used to work for is running sears' online business. Good for him.
I am surprised of the bad customer service stories. I have found managers a lot more willing to deal on scratch and dents as well as the floor models. My last was a scratch discontinued floor model tool chest. Got it almost 60% off, and when the stockroom brought it out it was a new one. My morals got the better of me and i told him I was supposed to get the beat up one of the floor. He said for being honest I could keep the new one.
I suspect he just didn't want to put it back in the stockroom, but hey I win and he got a tip.
I tried to buy a $1000 lawn tractor at a local sears about 10 years ago. Bought and paid for and they showed it in inventory but couldn't find it. A lawn tractor. Easy to misplace. They showed one across town but I could drive the hour round trip or go a few blocks away to TSC. I chose TSC. The salesman was upset - but clearly not at me. I felt bad for him but I think that was what it's like working for Sears and a big contributor to their downfall.
Back in the 70's my brother and I wore the E36 M3 out of our Toughskins. When they got threadbare, mom ironed patches on the knees.
RIP Sears. It won't hurt much longer.
Last thing I bought there was a weed trimmer. My old one died, and I didn't feel like fixing it again, so I decided to try and find a decent one, which led me to Craftsman. They had it advertised online and I had those "MyRewards Points" to use from another purchase. The website didn't recognize the points, which you were supposed to be able to use on the purchase to get money off. My wife decided to call them and spent about an hour and a half on the phone with them to get the $5 off, and I picked it up in the store later that afternoon. It worked out in the end, but we spent the better part of the day trying to get a discount that should have just worked from the beginning. 
That said, we still have a few Kenmore appliances from them. We have a Kenmore gas stove (it was brand new when we bought the house 6 years ago, came with the place), a Kenmore A/C window unit (about 5 years old now), a Kenmore canister vacuum (probably about 10, given to us "broken" because it was clogged, works great), and a a 15 yer old Kenmore dishwasher (still works, although the door seal leaks sometimes). Kenmore stuff is all made by someone else these days, so it's all a mixed bag, but most of our stuff has been solid. But it's no big loss if they go down, because again, all their stuff is made by someone else.
In the past year I have made 2 purchases. A $100+ Craftsman coat and $50 Sears brand boots, both on clearance under $30. The coat is a full equal to Carhartt, maybe a little better. But the original price was straight up crackpipe when cross shopping with Carhartt. The boots are good, they should outlast the Brahmas I would buy for the same price from Walmart, and those will last me 2 years.
iceracer wrote: My Ace Hardware has been selling Craftsman tools for quite awhile.
I go to Ace (and Summit Racing) for Craftsman tools because they closed the local Sears Hardware and the only other Sears in the area appears completely uninterested in stocking anything.
PS - The old Sears Hardware location is now being leased by Ace Hardware. It's almost the exact same store except no appliances.
I have been told our Sears would have already closed if it weren't for the fact that they own the building (in a shopping center).
Reminds me I need to round up all the worn out Craftsman screw drivers and take in for replacement.
spitfirebill wrote: I have been told our Sears would have already closed if it weren't for the fact that they own the building (in a shopping center). Reminds me I need to round up all the worn out Craftsman screw drivers and take in for replacement.
That seems to be the m.o. for a lot of the remaining sears. When they bulldozed the Brookdale mall in mn, Sears stayed, because they owned their building, even as an achor.
mad_machine wrote: Yes, Sears sold kit houses.. Sears Modern homes- wikipedia
A friend of mine lived with his grandparents; his grandpa (or great-grandpa?) built their house from a Sears plan. I think it was a Sears Kit, but I know it was a Sears plan. It was pretty cool looking through the old blueprints, which I don't think were actually blue.
Sears used to sell cars too!
Hemmings did an article back in 2007 where they re-enacted the process of ordering one of these cars, assembling it at a train depot, and driving it away. Pretty cool.
In reply to SilverFleet:
"All speeds from 1 to 25mph!" I hate those cars that skip speeds; it make it difficult to keep up with them in the time/space continuum. All that ceasing to exist between 10 and 15mph and 20 and 25mph. Ugh.
mtn wrote:mad_machine wrote: Yes, Sears sold kit houses.. Sears Modern homes- wikipediaA friend of mine lived with his grandparents; his grandpa (or great-grandpa?) built their house from a Sears plan. I think it was a Sears Kit, but I know it was a Sears plan. It was pretty cool looking through the old blueprints, which I don't think were actually blue.
I owned one in Pawcatuck, CT for about 18 months. 4 br/1 ba, 1,400 sf Dutch colonial with a wrap around porch. Built in 1916. Great house. Wasn't able to find the plan on the old Sears ads. It's a shame you can't buy like that anymore. (I think) they were the original ore-engineered building.
Honestly I admit that "back in the day" Sears was the E36 M3. Good quality, clean stores, an overall plesant shopping experience. I didn't shop there often but went there for bigger stuff like appliances.
Many years ago back when I was trying to build a credit history I applied for a sears credit card. I even asked about a prepaid card where I give them 500 of my hard earned dollars and they extend a credit up to 500 bucks. They said no. And not because I had bad credit, but because I had no credit. Hardly relevant for a prepaid card, yes? And this is the same time frame where they are supposedly so berkeleying ready to get people signed up for their cards that I really took it personally.
I know it wasn't personal, but you know what? BERK sears. Best Buy was happy to give me 2 years with 0% interest on our washer & dryer. Delivered them free of charge that berkeleying day. Even hooked everything up. Done. Easy.
So, if you detected a bitter tone to my earlier reply, I admit I could not give two E36 M3s what happens to sears. They have long been just the shortcut to the foodcourt for me too. I would not give them a dime if I was guaranteed to get a dollar back. Berkeley 'em.
As a wee lad in the early early 90s, I accidentally busted a borrowed 1/2" Craftsman ratchet trying to remove the frozen lug bolts from my '72 Super Beetle. We drove an hour to the nearest Sears store, where the ratchet was repaired with spare parts in-store and the owner (neighbor's cranky dad) was never the wiser. Blah, blah, blah, those were the days.
EastCoastMojo wrote: Honestly I admit that "back in the day" Sears was the E36 M3. Good quality, clean stores, an overall plesant shopping experience. I didn't shop there often but went there for bigger stuff like appliances. Many years ago back when I was trying to build a credit history I applied for a sears credit card. I even asked about a prepaid card where I give them 500 of my hard earned dollars and they extend a credit up to 500 bucks. They said no. And not because I had bad credit, but because I had no credit. Hardly relevant for a prepaid card, yes? And this is the same time frame where they are supposedly so berkeleying ready to get people signed up for their cards that I really took it personally. I know it wasn't personal, but you know what? BERK sears. Best Buy was happy to give me 2 years with 0% interest on our washer & dryer. Delivered them free of charge that berkeleying day. Even hooked everything up. Done. Easy. So, if you detected a bitter tone to my earlier reply, I admit I could not give two E36 M3s what happens to sears. They have long been just the shortcut to the foodcourt for me too. I would not give them a dime if I was guaranteed to get a dollar back. Berkeley 'em.
In an earlier life, I worked in Materials Management which prompted me to take a bunch of related courses (Just-In-Time, Enterprise Resource Planning, etc.).
While attending one lecture, I remember the instructor cautioning the class to not let anyone pull a “Sears Job” on us. Turns out that Sears would systemically contract with vendors that didn’t have sufficient scale to adequately support their volume.
The vendors would leap at the opportunity to get a big Sears contract, overextend themselves ramping up production capability to handle the increased demand and then Sears would start turning the screws demanding unrealistic price reductions.
The vendors would have no choice but to accept the price reductions as they couldn't keep their new expensive equipment busy without Sears and they’d ultimately go out of business but not before Sears had gotten a lot of stuff out of them cheap.
So, I’m really sorry they insulted you, just realize you got off comparatively easy…countless whole companies have been intentionally run into the ground by them, so much so that there’s even a term for it; Sears Job.
In reply to RX Reven':
Walmart does this too.
I found some papers in my dads files this summer. My grandfather worked at a Sears warehouse in Chicago from 1936 to 1963 and dropped dead at 54 years of age with a heart attack. Sears pension and profit sharing paid my grandmother $54,000 cash and he earned 867 shares of Sears stock valued at $95-7/8 per share or approx $83,000 total.
My grandmother lived on the dividends and her social security and never went back to work after he died. Those were the good old days at Sears.
The fun part is that my dad was given some Allstate stock that he grew big time. He sold his Sears stock right when Kmart bought them - he was finished with Sears except for the Allstate stock and yes, everything in my father's life was usually Sears.
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