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Sears Canada (1952-2017)

  • Thread starter CanadianNational
  • Start date
I think the management and owners would take it more seriously if they are paid not in money, but in company stock that would vest in 5 years time.

AoD
 
The beginning of the end was when Paul Walters left (fired from?) Sears. He was the best thing to happen to the company. Had he stayed things would be much different today.
 
Skeezix said:
My favourite Sears story involves the mothers' day flyer a few years back (2012?). Lampert forces Sears divisions to compete with one another - some "survival of the fittest" bullshit. So instead of cooperating, they are at each other's throats. When it came time to produce the annual mothers' day flyer in the U.S., the sporting goods division was able to outbid womenswear for the most prominent spots in the flyer. So millions of American homes received a mothers' day flyer from Sears with a front cover promoting BMX bikes for teenage boys.
Click to expand...

Brutal.

Lampert is a tough guy to figure out. If the whole buying Kmart (then Sears) was a real estate play, then why did he not sell off the valuable pieces years ago? And if not, and he was serious about being a retailer, then why didn't he hire someone that knew what they were actually doing?

I look at Richard Baker and what he did with the bay, and I can only wonder where Sears would be if Eddie followed the same path. So sad because it didn't have to be this way for Sears.
 
Note that there is no mention of investing in the dumpy stores themselves. Unclear if spending on "profitable merchandise categories" means actual, desperately needed capital investment, or just stocking more of the merchandise that they can manage to sell. Wonder what "unprofitable product lines" they intend on exiting. Boire says that they "have all of the ... capital capability that we need to fund the transformation and operation of the business", but their last great hope (Calvin McDonald) left Sears Canada when it became apparent that Lampert had no intention on making the necessary capital investments. So hard to know if Boire is talking out of his ass. What a mess.

Sears Canada speeding up investments in turnaround effort: CEO
Reuters, 19 December 2014
 
I am surprised we have not seen a "Sears Canada shutting down" headline yet. Maybe they need to analyse some more numbers and make the announcement Jan 2.
 
So with the recent news of Target closing up shop in Canada, Sears has reached out offering discounts and possible job opportunities for soon-to-be former Target employees. With Sears's never-ending struggles, I'd be very cautious about committing myself for more disappointment.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6493474
 
The retreat of Sears from the GTA continues:

End of an era as Markham Sears store to close Saturday

I actually think this is positive news for Sears. As the company places more focus and reliance on suburban markets, I think it's important that Sears exit stores in suburbs with declining populations, low incomes and negative prospects, like Markham. Oh wait...
 
“These stores didn’t close because they were poor performing. In fact they were good performing stores, they were good markets for us,” said Vincent Power, vice-president of corporate communication at Sears.

“The value for early termination of our lease that we were being offered was significant. In round numbers probably 20 times what we could have made in net profit over the course of that time.”

So... even in a better-performing store, the lease was worth more than two decades of business itself? Even though there doesn't seem to be any immediate candidate to take over the space?

Wow.
 
Bruno Republic said:
“These stores didn’t close because they were poor performing. In fact they were good performing stores, they were good markets for us,” said Vincent Power, vice-president of corporate communication at Sears.

“The value for early termination of our lease that we were being offered was significant. In round numbers probably 20 times what we could have made in net profit over the course of that time.”

So... even in a better-performing store, the lease was worth more than two decades of business itself? Even though there doesn't seem to be any immediate candidate to take over the space?

Wow.
Click to expand...

Well, it's like one giant, extended bankruptcy sale - starting with the leases.

AoD
 
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