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Sears Canada (1952-2017)

  • Thread starter CanadianNational
  • Start date
Sears Canada is effectively being sold at a discount, because no one was interested in buying it otherwise. And Lampert is scooping up half the shares on offer. Something fundamentally wrong with Lampert driving a business into the ground, and then taking advantage of the chain's troubles to increase his interest at a discounted rate.
 
It's too bad one of the many mid-range department stores in the sates couldn't take over Sears. All we got for mid level department stores is Sears and The Bay. Smaller cities in Canada don't even have The Bay, just one or two Sears stores. The U.S has... Macy's, JC Penny, The Bon-Ton, Kohl's, Dillard's, Ross, Boscov's..etc.
 
gabe said:
It's too bad one of the many mid-range department stores in the sates couldn't take over Sears. All we got for mid level department stores is Sears and The Bay. Smaller cities in Canada don't even have The Bay, just one or two Sears stores. The U.S has... Macy's, JC Penny, The Bon-Ton, Kohl's, Dillard's, Ross, Boscov's..etc.
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Meanwhile, The Bay -- sorry, "Hudson's Bay" -- is moving further upscale.

Few of those US chains are really comparable to Sears though, since most of them deal mainly in soft goods. JC Penney was already stumbling when they made a disastrous foray into "everyday low pricing" and nearly sunk themselves. And Ross is a low-end Winners/TJ Maxx/Marshall's-style place though, isn't it? I went into one once and was thoroughly unimpressed. Haven't been to a Bon-Ton or Boscov's.
 
Kohl's or Bon-Ton might be a nice replacement for Sears (wasn't Kohl's rumoured a while back to be sniffing around a Canadian expansion? or was that Ross?). Anyway, the demise of Sears might be an opportunity for either of them to pick up some real estate, but I presume that neither would want to buy the whole chain.
 
This has raised speculation that if Sears US pulls out completely (less than 10% holdings), Sears Canada may revert to another trademark it owns, like EATON'S - and they have a 5 year transition period to cease using the Sears name after termination of the licence (extendable by 4 more years for a fee).

TORONTO, Oct. 2, 2014 /CNW/ - Sears Canada Inc. (the "Company") (TSX: SCC) announced today that, in connection with the rights offering announced by Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), Sears Holdings and the Company have agreed to extend the agreement pursuant to which the Company licences the right to use the "Sears" name and certain other brand names associated with a number of its major product lines. With this change, the agreement will continue to apply for so long as Sears Holdings continues to own 10% of the voting shares of the Company (the current trigger is 25%) and the Company will have the continued right to use the trademarks on a royalty-free basis after termination for 5 years (currently 3 years).

If, prior to the completion of the 5-year period, the Company reasonably determines that a longer transition period is necessary, Sears Holdings will extend the license agreement for a further transition period not to exceed 4 years, at a below market rate.
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Maybe they can dust this idea off - worked well for them last time.
[video=youtube;qHhsc4lYamc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHhsc4lYamc[/video]
 
officedweller said:
This has raised speculation that if Sears US pulls out completely (less than 10% holdings), Sears Canada may revert to another trademark it owns, like EATON'S - and they have a 5 year transition period to cease using the Sears name after termination of the licence (extendable by 4 more years for a fee).
Click to expand...
That would be interesting. Perhaps even pull the Eaton family back in as investors? :)
 
Eaton's in its final years was mismanaged even worse than Sears is now, and that's really saying something.

Any value the Eaton's name had as a marketing brand is long gone, as Sears discovered when they tried to keep it alive as a small chain in the early '00s. Eaton's hadn't been competent/relevant/dominant since, what, the 70s? By the end of the 80s, the stores looked like something you'd see in a country with a state-run economy, and appallingly bad inventory management meant that the few people who still tried to shop there could never get what they came for. Much like Sears now, their turnaround efforts only accelerated their decline instead of stopping it.

Anyway, I'm not expecting to see Sears Canada reverting to a different name. At the rate things are going, I don't think they'll be around long enough to ponder the issue.
 
Primark is HUGE in the UK so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for expansion into Canada as well!
 
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