Sears Holdings Corporation announced today that they will be closing 100 to 120 Kmart and Sears stores due to poor sales over the holidays. According to their website, exactly which stores will be closed has not been determined yet but when it is, it will be published on the Sears Holding Newsroom.
This is not nice news to hear after the holidays as it will likely affect the livelyhoods of hundreds (or more) employees.
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I dont think they can blame it on poor sales, they’ve been going down for a while.
Here is an article on Reuters that gives more of a history of Sears and Kmart
I don’t doubt it. Really sad for employees, but Sears has some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced, and I am by no means surprised.
Kmart service in the USA is terrrrrrrrrrrible. You’ll never stand in a line for less than 10-15 minutes, and someone will always have an item that scans the wrong price. (I find Zellers similar).
It would be nice if you didn’t have to weave through a dozen cosmetic counters to get in and out of the store or spend 10 minutes trying to find the out-of-the-way check-outs. Oh and having to visit each separate clothing “boutique” while shopping is a pain in the butt.
Yes, they made this announcement. They also announced that it`s US stores, no Canadian stores are affected.
Ron.
Fromwhat I read is they haven’t decided if Cdn stores will be effected.
Not a big Sears fan. Not surprised at all that they are losing business.
The only time I shop at Sears is when Clinique has a bonus 🙂
CBC News had it on yesterday that NO stores in Canada will be affected
I only shop at the Sears outlet store online. Even then, the prices are higher then their competition. I generally wait until they have their 30% off sale to make a purchase. This time, it was only on clothes. :-S
walmart is going to destroy all of them, how sad
I worked for Sears for over 5 years and in that short time I saw the quality of customer service decline at an alarming rate. I witnessed customers waiting for months to have appliances repaired or having repair after repair only to be told that they would have to pay after the warrenty expired. There were so many times that we lost good customers simply because the after sales care was terrible. Sears was never known for their low prices but they were known for excellent customer service. Seems that Sears kept the high prices but took away the one thing that was keeping them in business, the high level of cutomer service. So high price and low quality after care, is it any wonder the ship is sinking.
Canadian stores are not affected. The new CEO has great ideas to improve the stores and excellent customer service is one of them. Don’t give up on them because he has a great vision to improve. Certainly have some great sales as well. I know people who swear by Sears.
Surprisingly their not closing any store in canada. Customer service in store and service is terribly bad, incompetent technicians including supervisors and managers. They should just close all their stores and have the space rented to a more deserving store supplier who can manage their service better.
Affect hundreds of employees? More like thousands of employees.
I quit shopping at Sears in 2009 due to no or very poor customer service and decreased quality in products such as appliances and other store items. Many staff members and sub-contractors, that are hired to work for or represent Sears, displayed a very unprofessional and who cares attitude.
I predicted the future sales decline of Sears due to the many problems that I had encountered with lack of concern from Sears Managers up to the CEO. This article didn’t surprise me…what to so long was my question.
Managers right up to CEO refused to acknowledge or improve on service or product damage etc… too many staff were incompetent or lacked professional management skills.
Within 1 & 1/2 yrs. of owning new appliances, Kenmore Elite, purchased at Sears…appliances were breaking down and needed repairs that cost us a lot of money.
I have brought my business to department stores that care about their customers and place them in high regard and their products. With such fierce competition …. it was very easy to replace Sears with other stores !
I quit shopping at Sears in 2009 due to no or very poor customer service and decreased quality in products such as appliances and other store items. Many staff members and sub-contractors, that are hired to work for or represent Sears, displayed a very unprofessional and who cares attitude.
I predicted the future sales decline of Sears due to the many problems that I had encountered with lack of concern from Sears Managers up to the CEO. This article didn’t surprise me…what took so long, was my question?
Managers right up to CEO refused to acknowledge or improve on service or product damage etc… too many staff were incompetent or lacked professional management skills.
Within 1 & 1/2 yrs. of owning new appliances, Kenmore Elite, purchased at Sears…appliances were breaking down and needed repairs that cost us a lot of money.
I have taken my business to department stores that care about their customers and place them in high regard and their products. With such fierce competition …. it was very easy to replace Sears with other stores !
Ummmm….. Wondering why this information was published on a Canadian website, as we don’t have KMart in Canada (sadly) any more.
I’m guessing that this bad news is for south of the border…….