Sounds like a tough time for everyone concerned. That was a lot of house cleaning and your team hung in there with you to the end? Hope your treatment is successful. I suppose since your plate is empty we'll be seeing a lot more of you around here?
fannie; yup I'm back, taking the wagon in tomorrow to get the parking brake light issue resolved, I posted the issue back on April 29th & have had no time to get it looked at - wagon has gone around the block a couple of times since then, so in 4 months its gone 3 miles - what a waste! was driving too many miles and hauling a huge amount of stuff around - and didn't want to destroy the wagon so I used my wife's Mercedes ML350, she was pleased! my team was wonderful stuck by me to the end, the Harpers Ferry crew were unbelievable they knew we were closing back in Feb & stayed to the bitter end - they turned off the power and locked it up - wanted to cry. truly a sad state of affairs but just couldn't offset the huge reduction of local advertising coupled with all the negative press coming out of Sears Holdings - had I kept them open I would have been completely wiped out within 3 years and that is assuming that costs didn't go up as it was lost over a quarter of a mill in 5 years. good news -- have enough loss carry over to cover the next 6 years! the staff has all found jobs and heard they are ok, only 2 applied for unemployment - because they want to take some time, and that's fine - remember when you are working you are paying for the right to collect. Never understood how employers fought their staffs right to collect - unless they were terminated for some gross violation - theft or harassment of some form.
Because in some states (such as WA), the employer has to pay matching, and the rate goes up every time someone is let go for whatever reason.
Looks like the bank is now the new boss: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/sears-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection
Yeah, I nust saw that. I've already seen two Sears and 1 K-mart location shut down here in the Puget Sound area. I'm waiting for the shoe to drop on the Sears here in Everett. The same one that my parents used to buy my school clothes from, until high school
everyone I managed 3 stores for Sears along with time in Corp. back then 10,000 folks worked in Corp (lunch hour was a hoot) best company I ever worked for period. This was B4 the whole Kmart/Sears mess I could cry - have been for years Its like watching an animal being abused and not being able to do anything about it.
I remember going shopping with my mom and dad at the Santa Monica Sears, usually for new school clothes. I remember the candy counter (I could usually talk the folks into a small bag of something...), the Craftsman tool area, and the clothes, which were usually well-made and reasonably priced. In the late 50's, I remembered it as an 'up-to-date' store, but then, into the 60's, I didn't go there as much. There were other stores to shop at - maybe some that seemed to be more modern, up-to-date. I do remember buying my first set of tires for my first car, at the Sears Automotive Center across the street. I don't remember the last time I visited the store, but it was well before I left the area for good in 1974. The store closed in April, 2017, and is currently under renovation to turn it into an office, dining and shopping complex. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sears-santa-monica-20171126-story.html https://la.curbed.com/2017/11/27/16707650/santa-monica-sears-redevelopment-renderings-seritage https://commercialobserver.com/2018/03/the-plan-santa-monicas-historic-sears-gets-new-life/
I remember ours had the toy section and a lunch counter next to the auto center hen I was a kid. If Dad took a vehicle in for servicing, I'd tag along, and while waiting, we'd hit the lunch counter for a slice of cherry or apple pie a la mode, then we'd look at the toy section, for which he'd buy me something. Later, as I went into junior high, it was Tyco trains.
These days, I'd tell employees about the lunch counter and toy section, which is now replete with Craftsman tools...just toys for big boys....
Growing up in NYC apartment never had a Sears store, never got the catalog, walked into my first Sears store in St. Davids, PA when I was 26 (awhile ago) can't say I was impressed. Growing up we had 2 screw drivers, a tack hammer and a pair of pliers that's it - building super fixed everything and was told that Kenmore was an inferior brand to the big names. Very different perspective than most
There wasn't much to big names, back then. There were Whirlpools and Maytags, the latter of which I only saw on Teevee commercials claiming never to need a serviceman show up for repairs. Nobody I knew had one. And we were in a middle class suburb
Hell, when we got settled in, here in Everett, after Dad got back from Viet Nam and reported to his next duty station, we had a new Whirlpool portable dishwasher, Frigidaire washer and Kenmore dryer, and all three came from the Sears on Highway 99 in North Seattle, delivered and installed. Mom and Dad made damned sure the Sears card was always properly paid.
When I was growing up we always shopped at SEARS. My dad was a CRAFTSMAN man so I think it just happened that we ended up shopping there for most things. We didn't go to town to go shopping frequently, so when we did it was kind of a big deal. My siblings and I always looked forward to visiting the toy department and most of all we looked forward to sitting on the lawn-tractors that were on display. Great memories of SEARS from my childhood. I suppose it's just one more example of things never stay the same.
