Thread regarding Sears layoffs

That should be your next closing list. Get rid of the Home & Life Stores and the Mattress/Appliance Stores.

Sears says that the small-format stores are reopening, as well as the full-sized store in Union Gap, Washington.

https://www.sears.com/en_us/dap/transformco-Coronavirus-2019-response.html

Sears Stores Re-Opened July 10, 2020

Anchorage, Alaska
Fort Collins, Colorado
Lafayette, Louisiana
Overland Park, Kansas
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania
Pharr, TX
Union Gap, Washington

(All of these have been added back to the Sears.com Store Locator, except for Overland Park)

@7zun+15JTTNTR - No point to arguing with you anymore, I was just stating what happened to our unsold soft lines merchandise when our store closed. Our sister store reopened mid June & has not been listed as a closing store yet. But, at the rate things are moving with Sears that could happen any day. We were listed as a “Go Forward” store in January & were notified of our closing 1st. week in February.

@6axz+15JTTNTR - So you are saying our liquidator had our merchandise sent to a Sears warehouse with paperwork on each pallet with our store number pallet Id numbers on each pallet & hold for our sister stores number is false information it was actually being shipped to the liquidator. Where did you get this information from?

Yes, I know that Sears Hometown stores exist, and maybe they are the company's future (though many of them seem to be failing or closing as well). I am not keeping track of them. Perhaps someone else will want to do that.

All liquidators own the merchandise. On another note, there are hundreds of Sears Hometown stores, so to write that there are only 70 Sears is inaccurate. They might be franchised, but they are still Sears. Most if not all, Burger Kings, Wendys, etc., are franchised, but they are still counted in total counts.

Our liquidator did not own the merchandise. The liquidation of our soft lined merchandise was shut down a month into our store liquidation because of COVID-19. Our hard lines & fixture liquidation continued until 4/11 we vacated the building on 4/24. We sent between 20 & 30 pallets of clothes to a warehouse to be held for our sister store when they reopened after COVID-19. Sister store was one of the 2 remaining Sears stores in NY north of NYC & Long Island.

Our liquidator said they bought the merchandise, owned the inventory, and anything leftover would be theirs . They even brought in merchandise from their liquidations at other retailers. Why do you think liquidating 5,000 stores at a bankrupt company run by mor-ns is a uniform thing?

I am tired of typing the same thing. Again, the liquidator sat us down and said the exact opposite. He said he was there as a consultant ONLY. Either way, I have said my peace and won’t reply again.

Forgot to mention this. You will notice, when a liquidator takes over, the store takes inventory. Why? Because ownership is being transferred to Said liquidator. Sears (or Kmart) is selling the merchandise to the liquidator. From that point forward, the employees might still have Sears nametags for The Last Few Weeks, they might still use Sears shopping bags, have Sears signs all over the place, but the store is Sears in name only. Sears has nothing to do with it from that point forward.

Sort of like The Old Trump C-sinos in NJ. The President (then businessman) was just Paid for the use of his name but he has absolutely nothing to do with, nor owned Those C-sinos. Not trying to start a political discussion in any way, but just using an example of how the name outside a building doesn't always indicate who owns or runs the place.
Once Sears sells a store to the liquidator, they have about as much to do with that store as Target does (which is absolutely nothing). The employees in that store are no longer Sears employees. Instead they are employees of the liquidator. For convenience, their Payroll is still processed through Sears' systems, but is Funded by the liquidator who has Final Say in all matters within those 4 walls during closing process.

@4jxd+15JTTNTR
@4bip+15JTTNTR

This is patently false. When any liquidator takes over a store, they are buying the merchandise from the company. True, they don't own the deed to the actual building. But they DO own all the merchandise in the building, and the liquidators PAY the employees during closing (although they do so through Sears Payroll Checks). That is why you noticed that liquidation firms were bidding against Eddie in bankruptcy court before. Judge Drain let Eddie Win, but that doesn't change the fact that when Ed decides to close a store, he sells the merchandise to the liquidator. Ed (or Sears) has absolutely nothing to do with the chain from that point forward other than the ostensible sign outside the building. The merchandise is owned by, and the employers work for, the liquidator and NOT Sears or Kmart. All this information is easily googleable (if that's a word), so you can verify anything I wrote.

In reading through these posts I agree that the deed to the building/property is not transferred into the liquidator's name in terms of an actual real estate transaction "sale". The company needs to hold onto that property to do something else with it in the future.

Another thing worth mentioning. I closed 2 stores and the first store had 2 different liquidators because the first 1 had to leave for a family emergency half way through (so I have worked with 3 liquidators at Sears holdings). Liquidators are notoriously full of themselves and have power trips. In the first store the liquidator said he owned all of us, when the second guy came in he said it wasn’t true and the guy said that so people would take him seriously. The district manager came in on the last day to go over numbers with the liquidator. We sent a lot of fixtures to “go forward stores”. All computers and store systems as well as some nice fixtures were sent to a sears warehouse in Melrose park, IL. I sent 10 pallets of store computers/systems and fixtures before we left the building.

Again, referring to SEARS AND KMART the store is NOT sold the the liquidator. We had a store meeting with the liquidator and manager and he laid it all out for us. He made it VERY clear he did not own the store or employees, that sears still owned the merchandise and was responsible for employee pay. He also said, “ I don’t print signs, I don’t deal with customers, I don’t ring on registers. I am here for one thing only, to make sure you close on time and make the most money possible. I am a consultant ONLY.” As far as other companies they may very well have different agreements, but as this is a sears board those other companies are pointless for this conversation. Just because rite aide did someone one way doesn’t automatically mean sears/Kmart do it the same way (honestly didn’t think this had to me mentioned, but for whatever reason people don’t seem to
Be able to understand this)

Don’t know who our liquidator was from, I think it was a Florida company. He & our store manager we’re both good. He made all of the decisions about staffing & pricing. If there was any questions about pricing merchandise or fixtures he made the decision. Our closing was announced 2/4 He was there next day & liquidation began 2/6.

Same for Ames. Owned by the liquidator. Some of these managers need to be owned by the liquidator.

@3nak+15JTTNTR Then maybe Abacus has a different arrangement than Gordon Bros.. When we closed Bradlees for example, the liquidator in each store made clear that his company owns the store now and that everyone works for him. The liquidator gave orders to the store manager who then passed them on to his subordinates. I Know, as I was an assistant manager. We were Told our Checks would still Say "Bradlees" but ostensibly, we now work for Gordon Bros for The Next 6 Weeks. Indeed, every decision was made by the liquidator NOT the store manager.
Typically liquidators buy stores for Pennies on The Dollar. Now maybe, if what you're writing is accurate, then Sears/Abacus has a different arrangement than any other company I have worked for. In my experience, liquidators purchase any closing store outright, then the original company has absolutely zero to do with it from that point. It was the same way at Rite-Aid when I was there. When I asked why I couldn't use employee discounts, etc., was Told that it's because the store is no longer owned by Rite-Aid but by a third party liquidator. Of course, I was welcome to use my discount at non-closing stores, as they were, of course, still owned by Rite-Aid, as opposed to the liquidator, which owned any closing stores.

@2ogu+15JTTNTR

Absolutely, 100%, incorrect and false. Neither the merchandise nor the stores are or have ever been “sold” to the liquidators. This is an inaccurate urban legend that has been floating around for years,

The agreement with Abacus is that they are paid a flat rate, with additional payments contingent on certain KPIs and goals being achieved, e.g. accelerating the sell through, gross margin, etc.

Closing stores ARE sold to liquidators. Once a store is announced as closing, it is then sold to an independent liquidator and from that point forward it is Sears in name only. All operations from that point forward are dictated by the liquidator and even the actual store manager works FOR the liquidator and no longer Sears. I have been on both ends of this process (worked for a retailer and a liquidator) so I am aware how this works.

Perhaps they are referring to Union Gap, WA sears which hasn’t closed yet, but also hasn’t reopened

Wind Gap is in Pennsylvania, not Washington. It is a Kmart and it has already closed.

We are all liquidating. Some just slower than others. None will make it to 2021.

Between Facebook and here, I've never seen Wind Gap, Washington mentioned so much! Ron really has an infatuation with this city and store the Sears store as he obsesses over the most up-to-date info.

Closing stores are not “sold” to liquidators 🙄. The company still owns the merchandise and pays the employees. The liquidators are “Consultants” who are paid to get the job done, nothing else. This was told to me by the liquidator who closes my store.

Alexandria, VA is now confirmed so that makes it 69. That’s also the 11th Seritage Property.

https://jobs.sears.com/en-US/page/seasonal-jobs?experience=cb&CompanyDIDCSV=&JobTitle=&FacetCategory=&locationLimit=3&location=&featured=true&orderby=-date

The difference between her 66 and my 70 probably comes down to some of the 6 small-format stores. It's not clear which ones are just not yet reopened, and which ones may have silently and permanently closed. Also unclear is the status of the full-sized store in Union Gap, Washington.

If you are saying 66 left that means there are 4 that have not been confirmed left as closing but not mentioned yet. Wonder what they are?

No Jack's format s—s. It's a BS list of eleventy billion states that don't even have stores. This lists stores that exist and are about to cease existing, it's current, relevant, and if it's got some errors, at least it's not butt fugly.

Can u post this again without the closing stores? Because, in all honesty, who cares about them? They are Dead stores walking and arent even owned by Sears, being they are sold to the liquidators. It's like discussing baseball teams that are mathematically eliminated from reaching the playoffs. Let's discuss stores that mathematically have a chance of continuing, not those that are already eliminated from contention. I prefer the Jack dude's format in that when a store is proven closing, he removes them right away.

thank you for the update. I appreciate it.

Im concerned

More like going-away concern.

66 is the exact number off the stores dashboard.
6 in PR
4 in HI
56 in lower 48!!
My manager counted them off this am. She said Holy Sh–! 56 in the lower 48.
Have someone verify. I am not a manager to get access.