Say Goodbye to Sears
Sears and Roebuck, now known as Sears, was founded in 1893 in Chicago. Since then, the massive retail company that sells almost everything has expanded greatly, opening thousands of stores throughout the nation. In the past few years, though, Sears has shut its doors to many stores nationwide, due to losing $5.8 billion in the last few years. Now, only 506 Sears locations remain. And sadly, on October 15th, 2018, Sears filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Sears has been in decline the past few decades. When Walmart and Amazon came along, Sears sales declined greatly as online shopping increased. Sears failed to compete with the allure of online shopping. Sears’s reluctance to refurbish stores mixed with a lack of advertisement did not propel Sears into a competitive state with these new retailers.
The once iconic Sears Tower in Sears’ hometown of Chicago was renamed Willis Tower. The Canadian branch of Sears, Sears Canada, closed all of its stores in early 2018. The closing of this branch and renaming of the Sears Tower foreshadowed the doom Sears would face.
Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy provides the chance to reorganize the company and possibly get back on track to reopen. It is also obviously the more hopeful alternative to filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is when stores must liquidate with no hope of reorganizing. The CEO of Sears, Eddie Lampert, stepped down as CEO and is now trying to make a deal to receive more financial support to get back on track. Because Lampert gave up his position, three of the executives at Sears are attempting to run the company.
Several Sears stores in the Atlanta area have either closed or are supposed to close soon. The Sears locations at Northlake Mall in Dekalb County, the Southlake Mall in Morrow, and the Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth have recently closed. The Sears location at Cumberland Mall is set to close around Thanksgiving. The first floor of the Sears store at Cumberland Mall is filled with signs advertising the sales and is mostly empty, containing only what is left of picked over appliances. The lower floor is packed with clothes, as the store is trying to sell as much as possible before its forced closure.
The closing of Sears is just the next once successful store to go bankrupt. Other stores such as Borders, Blockbuster, Toys R Us, Sports Authority, and Radioshack have all gone bankrupt in recent years as well. No matter what happens, remembering Sears’ golden age of iconic Christmas catalogs and the “Sears Wish Book” will always save a spot in one’s memory of Sears’ happy times.
By McKenna Ching