Thread regarding Sears layoffs

I'm glad the poster below by using the word SPECULATION in reference to the Guam Kmart and the possibility of Westfarmers acquiring it. Too many people here and elsewhere talk about it like it's going to happen, and there's nothing publicly available to suggest that such a transaction is in the works.

The Guam KMart is just speculation, but if its still as profitable as it was a year or two ago, then it would make sense for KMart Australia to buy it as Transformco is winding down operations elsewhere. It also might make sense for Target or Walmart to buy the store.

What's with all the ongoing jibber jabber about Westfarmers (Kmart Australia) purchasing Kmart U.S. in Guam from Transformco? This has been speculated on here for several years. I've never seen anything from an executive within Westfarmers and/or Sears Holdings/Transformco claim any such deal has ever been considered. Yet people here and elsewhere talk about it as though it's fact and likely to happen.

Now we're moving the goal posts, you're now saying the the website won't be sold, instead Eddie will run it. Eddie has no interest in running a Sears website (or quite frankly even Sears), it should be obvious to everyone now that he raided the company for its real estate. He drove the company into bankruptcy then sold its real estate assets to another company that he owns.

@1rrw+19DkQVKY Sorry that your father in-law had to go through that, but his story is typical. Do a google search and you'll find hundreds of other similar stories. Sears (or transformco) doesn't really have any assets left other than its name. And even that isn't as valuable as it used to be after Eddie has dragged Sears once great reputation through the mud one too many times.

A football team being down 200-0 would never happen? So this never happened?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916_Cumberland_vs._Georgia_Tech_football_game#:~:text=The%201916%20Cumberland%20vs.,Bobby%20Dodd%20Stadium)%20in%20Atlanta.

And in any case, if Eddie Lampert continues running Sears as a mostly online operation, it is not like another company is taking over the website. It just means he is moving from B&M to mostly online.

I have been reading the posts about the Hometown Stores. I'm here to tell you I have first hand Knowledge about home town . My father in-law had a hometown franchise for six years. Sears did not fulfill its contractual obligation to supply a full stock of merchandise at sufficient levels to keep up with demand. Sears literally starved him out. the demand was there and his store was empty. this was not an isolated situation. when he took legal action sears let him out of his contract. and lost about $50.000.00 in the process. Others have gotten out and others are waiting to get out.
Sears is no good for anyone.

You don't get it, when another company buys the rights to a trademark in liquidation and then launches a new website, its not the same thing. Its a new company that just bought the rights to the name. To use your football analogy that's like the entire team calling it quits and then a completely different replacement team with new players, a new coach, and a new owner comes in a finishes the game (this would never actually happen, but neither would your scenario of a team being down 200-0).

@1qqi+19DkQVKY. Everything does not revolve around "stores". The most successful retailer currently, Amazon, is virtually all online. Sears could and should close their obsolete stores, and focus on a successful online presence. Hardly anybody goes to malls now, and that number grows less and less. 20 Years from now, almost all shopping will be online. The whole concept of stores is about to be more obsolete than phone booths or hula hoops.

Those companies ARE still in business. Just online, in another form, instead of B&M, but they still exist in 1 form or another. Toys R Us still exists, just not in the US. Again, when every Sears Hometown closes, and Sears.com disappears, then they are 100% done. Until then, they are just partially "done". The football team down 200-0, with 15 Seconds left isn't officially "done", until Clock strikes ZERO. As long as Sears is doing business in some format (even online), they still exist.

@1fkm+19DkQVKY That's like saying Modells is still in business because some other company bought the rights to their name and launched a new website. How about Circuit City? Or how about Woolworth's? They all have websites (owned by other companies) so by your reasoning they never wen tout of business.

No they won't be completely done. There will still be Sears.com. There will also be the USVI Kmarts. And as long as even 1 Sears Hometown stays open, the Sears name is not technically "done". I agree most full line Sears will close. But I think at least a handful of Hometowns will stay open, as well as Sears/Kmart websites. So until every single last vestige of the Sears name is eradicated off the face of Earth, they are not officially "done". You might find that one odd Sears Hometown owner who keeps his store open for 50 Years (there is still one oddball Blockbuster Video store open). So as long as that goofy owner's Sears Hometown store stays open, it's factually inaccurate to claim they will be done.

If every single Sears Hometown closes, all other B&M stores including Guam close, and the websites are 100% eliminated, then I will stand corrected. But I just don't see all those things happening 100% just yet. Maybe 98%, maybe 99%, but not 100%. Semantics, yes, but it's still true.

@llv+19DkQVKY There is overwhelming evidence that this is Sears last year. Sure the company defied all odds and stayed open years longer than anyone would have thought they would, but how much longer can they pull this off. We're down to roughly 50 stores now, the inventory in the non-closing stores is so low that they been blocking off entire sections of the store to make it look fuller, and we're not even done with the first quarter of the year, its over. Sure they might sell the Guam store (probably to KMart Australia) and some other company might pickup the franchise agreements for Hometown, but the company and the stores as we know them will be done.

Dates are approximate anyway. They don't always close exactly then. For example, if the store runs out of merchandise 3 Days early, they're not going to stay open just to reach A CERTAIN CLOSING DATE. They just estimate when they think the store might close.

Oh Ok I forgot about the Sears Hometown Stores!

@llv+19DkQVKY Exactly right. That post was only a prediction. And I think his/her prediction is unrealistic. Sears/Kmart will not be totally gone in 2021. There will still be an online presence, Kmart Guam will still be open, as well as the Sears name will still live on in some Hometown Stores. So the Sears/Kmart names will NOT be totally gone in 2021.

"I agree Sears & Kmart will be done by late 2021."

DISCLAIMER: This is a prediction and, at this time, not based on fact.

The below poster should have written:
"I agree. I THINK Sears & Kmart will be done by late 2021."

I agree Sears & Kmart will be done by late 2021!

I work in loss prevention . I can tell you with absolute certainty that all full size stores will be closed by December 28th 2021. You can take that to the unemployment office .

OP, it's "their" jobs, not "there" jobs. And it won't be 6 PM, in All Time Zones necessarily. Different stores might have Different Closing Times, if you want to be technical about it. Also they won't necessarily all lose their jobs at 6 PM. Some might have already been laid off, as operations were reduced, and some might still remain for A Few Days after closing, to help the liquidator clean up and move fixtures, etc.. So there really wasn't any need to be so dramatic, like some big thing is happening at 6 PM, LOL.

Oh Ok Sorry

@uil+19DkQVKY The poster below yours didn't ask WHEN the next list was coming out. He asked for a guess as to WHICH STORES would be on that list. Regardless, the answer to both is NOBODY EXCEPT ED KNOWS! Maybe even Ed doesn't Know yet, because maybe he hasn't made up his mind yet.

We already Knew this round (from 2020) was ending on Feb. 28. Not exactly some new revelation here LOL!

@vrz+19DkQVKY We already Know that. We also Know that Sky is blue & Water is wet. Tell us something new.

@hai+19DkQVKY YOU'RE welcome (not YOUR).

@uil+19DkQVKY You have zero evidence of that. The next list will come when Ed wants it to come. It might be in April as you stated, or it might not be until July. Or anywhere in between. Or not until 2022. We just don't Know. I don't care what some manager somewhere THINKS what will happen. Trust me Eddie is not sharing his plans with any store-level employees over Beers, Or a round of golf. Only Eddie Knows when the next list will come out. And maybe he has not even made that decision yet.

@cne+19DkQVKY Ditto ^ what I wrote above, but I wanted to add that the company won't be completely "done". I think Guam, USVI Kmarts will remain, as well as online sales, and at least some of the franchised Sears Hometown stores. Because we don't Know how long is left on the franchise agreements, and there might be a few franchisees who just do not want to close their store in 2021, for whatever reason. Perhaps they are in some small podunk town with no competition. But you can't force franchisees to close stores that they don't want to close. There are laws on the books about that. So the company will absolutely NOT be 100% "done" in 2021. There will be remnants, and vestiges left, be it franchised stores, or Sears website, or even maybe a few corporate owned B&M stores in places like Guam or USVI.

Don't make predictions about what you do not Know. None of us has a crystal ball. If you had one, I would ask you for Tomorrow's Lottery Numbers. Because guessing Those, is about as fruitful as guessing what's in Edward's mind right now.

After that you’ll see another list in the Summer & the last one in the fall & after that the Company is done!

@hai+19DkQVKY The next list is coming out Thursday, April 22nd, 2021 (Earth Day) after the first round announced earlier this month concludes on Sunday, April 18th, 2021

Your Welcome
Can you guess which Sears & Kmart Stores are closing Next

@lts+19DkQVKY Thanks!

You forgot to add the Merritt Island, FL

@vrz+19DkQVKY
These 14 Sears & 7 Kmarts store closures announced Friday, January 29th, 2021, began liquidation sales on Thursday, February 4th, 2021 and sales will conclude by Sunday, April 18th, 2021
The Locations are:
Kmart:
Long Beach, CA
Hyannis, MA
Silver Spring, MD
Belleville, NJ
Kingston, PA
Willow Street, PA
Rio Piedra, PR
Sears:
Los Angeles-Boyle Heights, CA
Clovis, CA
Orange, CA
Sacramento, CA
Brandon, FL
Aiea, HI
Hilo, HI
North Attleboro, MA
Silver Spring, MD
Valley Stream, NY
Hatillo, PR
Mayaguez, PR
Mesquite, TX
Dulles, VA
The 7 Sears & 1 Kmart closures were announced on Friday, February 12th, 2021 began liquidation sales on Thursday, February 18th, 2021 and these locations will close by Sunday, May 2nd, 2021
The Locations are
Kmart
Kearny, NJ
Sears
Baton Rouge, LA
Chicago Ridge, IL
Grand Store: Thornton, CO
Brockton, MA
Marlborough, MA
Long Beach, CA

The 14 Sears & 7 Kmarts store are closing by Sunday April 18th, 2021!
The 7 Sears & 1 Kmart are closing by Sunday May 2nd, 2021!