patrick.net

On a completely unrelated note, UPS is doing great!

Is it too late to short Sears stock?

WalMart is doing fine, at least if the constant long lines at the checkout are any indication.

Wal-Mart sells food, and EBT/SNAP cards are at/near all-time highs.

That's the only thing keeping them from following the others.

AllTruth says

That's the only thing keeping them from following the others.

I almost never buy food at Walmart, except for canned cat food (for my cats).

Too bad, Sear's was always a go to for tools and tool boxes.

Actually fuck em, I'll find my tools elsewhere, lol

zzyzzx says

WalMart is doing fine, at least if the constant long lines at the checkout are any indication.

A new one opened up near me, actually two about the same distance in each direction.
I've never completed a purchase in either. After making the mistake of shopping for a whole hour in the Grocery Wal-Mart down the street.
We made our way to the checkout line, and there were about 5 self checkout lines, with two or three associates working each Self Checkout register. Only to create a bottle neck of about 35 people in each line.
I just wheeled my cart up to the line grabbed the baby out of the cart, said to the wife. Let's go.
Then the other one we went shopping during the Christmas season, I made sure to look at the checkout line there. They have ten registers but only three were staffed with someone working them. And again huge lines in each register.

I was at a Marathon gas station the other day to buy some gas. And the middle eastern feller behind the counter, was working one of the two cash registers. So he says to me, Sir, I'll take you on the other register. And while the lady was fiddling with her credit card transaction. He took my transaction then finished her up by handing her the receipt while I did my card transaction.
That's! The kind of employees that deserve $15 an hour. But he can replace three recreational employees the ones that just go to the job to occupy space.
Must have been his families business and he gives a crap enough about the service because he knows it will be his someday.

I get my coffee and gas in the mornings there now. I always avoided Marathons, I always thought they were Ghetto, but now I see them popping up every where. They are replacing a lot of BP locations.

But Service! I hope that makes a come back. And it will if it is your business and your interest that it does. The return of the Customer is always right.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/10/15/business/sears-bankruptcy/index.html

Sears declares bankruptcy

The 132-year-old company has been struggling for several years and is drowning in debt. The final straw was a $134 million debt payment due Monday that it could not afford.

The filing in federal bankruptcy court in New York came in the early hours of Monday morning. The company issued a statement saying it intends to stay in business, keeping open stores that are profitable, along with the Sears and Kmart websites.

Sears said that it's looking for a buyer for a large number of its remaining stores, and it will close at least 142 stores near the end of this year. That's in addition to the 46 store closings already planned for next month. The company did not rule out additional store closings as the bankruptcy process proceeds.

Although retailers typically file for bankruptcy with the intention of staying in business, many end up going bust after filing. In recent years, Toys "R" Us, RadioShack and Sports Authority have followed that path to the graveyard.

The upcoming holiday season will be a particular challenge for Sears. It will need to do better than last year. While other traditional retailers enjoyed strong holiday sales, Sears and Kmart both reported sharp drops.

Long before the rise of Amazon and online shopping, Sears was struggling to keep up with Americans' changing shopping habits. Big box retailers such as Walmart beat it on both price and merchandise selection.

In 1999, it was booted out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, where it had been for 75 years. Big box rival Home Depot took its place.

Sears and Kmart merged to form Sears Holdings in 2005. At the time, they had 3,500 US stores between them. They have fewer than 900 today.

In July, Sears closed its last store in Chicago, once its hometown. In August, the company announced another 46 store closings. The company had 89,000 employees as of February. That's down from 317,000 US employees in early 2006, soon after the merger.

Man. I remember there was a guy who went all big into big box retail who used to post here (JC Penny I think). I remember telling him that would be majorly stupid to throw money into big box retail with Amazon and e-tailers basically taking over. This might have been back in 2013-2014.

I wonder if he pulled his money out in time before he lost it all.

The Sears here in Waco has dodged the ax umpteen times, but the day will come when its mausoleum like store will close too. That will be a sad day for the 35 year old mall it anchors on the south end as JCP anchors the other end with Dillards in the center. The mall doesn't even have video surveillance.

Aphroman says

SFAce. I don't think he went all big into big box retail, he sounds more like a seasoned investor to me. He warned that JCP was a speculative play with plenty of downside risk. He's the same guy who was pimping FB hard in the 20's and was saying load up as it moved into the 30's. I'm tipping the JCP loser didn't affect him much

I'm not making any comment on his overall skill as an investor, maybe he's great.

But the JC Penny call was terrible.

Goran_K says

But the JC Penny call was terrible.

Yeah, I would have expected Sears to outlast JCP.

Merging Sears and KMart to keep them afloat is like strapping a kid with MS to a kid with polio and hoping they’ll swim better.

Half the major retailers will soon follow Sears path to bankruptcy. The environment has changed. Adapt or go extinct.
Why would anyone bother going to Sears anyway? They have nothing to offer. Prices, choice, convenience, unique products? nothing.

https://finance.yahoo.com/video/sears-plans-liquidate-126-years-173000895.html

Sears plans to liquidate after 126 years in business

Having written that, I am still finding other articles claiming that there might be some soft of last minute thing.

Sears been asking to go bankrupt. All my interactions were bad. Most ppl who work there r dumb as fuck or illogical.
I had oil change n inspection. They inspected but didn't put sticker, almost got ticket.
After oil change , car fire squeaked, I have feeling that they opened wrong area.


Products are all unorganized.n
I ordered something online then, when I picked it up they said they won't honor the price now. I had to pay normal price.
Continuous bad management.

I remember going to Sears about eight years ago. We were TV shopping with a kind to purchase immediately and take one home as the kids had broken our current flat screen. We finally got a salesperson to help us after waiting for a while and then we played the stupid game of “I like that one can I buy it?” Nope. Not in stock. Have to order and wait three weeks. After the eighth TV that would be suitable was declared to be absent the premises or any nearby store premises, we gave up and left. I think we went to Best Buy or something and they had TVs in stock so we bought one there.

I bought a TV last month again. Totally different experience! They had many many in stock which you could see because there they were right in front of you all lined up on the shelf. I changed my mind three times and still wound up with a Tv I liked, and I wheeled it out of there myself half an hour later.
Of course we went to Costco.

When I went into Sears and was given grief for returning allen key set that had a few keys the rounded I was fucking done with them the tools were all that was keeping that place afloat. They were all run down and looked a step away from an indoor swap meet.