By Bob Walsh
I heard something very interesting on the radio today (06-11) as I was driving around. It seems that Sears is seriously considering selling off its legacy brands of Craftsman, Die-Hard and Kenmore.
I realize that the retail business is very tough. Never-the-less I was truly shocked years ago when Montgomery Ward went toes up. I was pleased a year and a half ago when J. C. Penny managed to hang in there despite some terrible merchandising decisions. I've had a lot of Craftsman tools, more than one Kenmore appliance and more than a couple of Die-Hard batteries in my life.
I am assuming that Sears is having a serious cash crunch or they would not consider selling off these brands. I know there has been some interconnection between Sears, Orchard Supply and K-Mart over the years. (I think that Sears owned Orchard Supply and K-Mart owned or still owns Sears Holding.) I was more than a little irritated when Sears shifted to semi-centralized check-outs, making it much harder to find knowledgeable sales people on the floors.
Will the planet keep spinning if Sears goes away? Yes, it will. It would, though, indicate a serious further shift in the retail business, one that I am fairly sure I will not much like.
1 comment:
I shopped at Sears for years. The last couple of times I went there to look at appliances, I found the store to be overpriced compared to Lowes and others. They would not deal when I showed them comparable models that were cheaper. They acted like they didn't care if they sold anything or not.
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