“The stores are creepy,” said shopper Chris Angelos, with few customers, a limited selection and whole sections closed off in the cavernous location near her home in Gurnee, Ill. The 69-year-old said she shops there anyway because it lets her avoid crowds and park near the front door. Articles about the impending death of Sears Holdings(SHLD) are beyond… Read More »
For those who thought the Ron Johnson era at J.C. Penney(JCP) was long over, a reminder this week that the results of his disastrous 17 month tenure continue to linger. Johnson was fired in 2013, but, despite strides under new CEO Marvin Ellison, the company remains a shadow of what it was prior to Johnson’s tenure. Incredibly, Johnson… Read More »
Appliance sales may be the answer for growth for brick and mortar retailers Best Buy(BBY) and JC Penney(JCP). Best Buy has shown consistent growth in appliance sales while struggling with its core electronics business. JC Penney announced plans to expand a pilot selling appliances to many additional stores. At the same time, moribund Sears Holdings(SHLD), once the clear… Read More »
Walgreens(WAG) announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire prescription files and inventory from 33 Kmart pharmacies in 16 states from Sears Holdings(SHLD). A quick look at the locations reveals that these are the Kmart locations scheduled to be closed in the next few months. The first transition already happened 3 days ago, though Sears has… Read More »
We have written previously about Sears(SHLD) closing dozens of stores. Now, the Huffington Post reports on some of the small cities and towns where Sears has announced closings that are desperate to keep their stores. Now, at least four of the places affected — Jackson, Miss., Cleveland, Tenn., New Smyrna Beach, Fla., and Harper Woods, Mich. — are… Read More »
It’s been a brutal year for Sears Holdings(SHLD) and a brutal year for Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund ESL investments. ESL has recently handed over shares of AutoNation(AN) to investors, presumably to cover redemptions, but it looks like Mr. Lampert is not willing to part with shares of Sears. The WSJ reports, based on public filings, that Lampert purchased… Read More »
Sears Holdings(SHLD) can’t seem to catch a break. After weeks of falling, Sears stock rallied 8% today on no news. Shareholders should cut their rejoicing short after tonight’s report from Bloomberg that CIT(CIT) will no longer finance vendors for their sales to Sears. CIT would not confirm reports, but Sears spokeswoman Kimberly Freely confirmed the action in an… Read More »
Earlier this week, Sears Holdings(SHLD) announced plans to shutter 100-120 stores. Today, the company released a pdf listing 79 stores to be closed, with more to be announced. I’ve converted this to a spreadsheet and mapped them View Sears Holdings 12/29/2011 Closings in a full screen map Of the stores closing 38 are Kmarts, and 14 are Sears… Read More »
It looks like Edward Lampert has lost another round in his great experiment with retail. Neither of the two major brands that comprise Sears Holdings(SHLD) were in good shape when he purchased them. He famously purchased Kmart in bankruptcy, buying debt for pennies on the dollar and emerging from bankruptcy with a controlling stake(despite the small distraction of… Read More »
Perrenial value trap Sears Holdings(SHLD) is the subject of an excellent article at Bloomberg Businessweek. After Eddie Lampert’s initial success buying Kmart bonds in bankruptcy, hoped were high that through its merger with Sears, he would be able to monetize undervalued real estate and invest the proceeds elsewhere. Aside from some muddling with credit default swaps several years… Read More »