Sears

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The Sears stores aren't doing too well and they plan on closing down 100 stores this coming year. Read about it here.

When I think about Sears, the year 1974 comes to mind. This is the first store where I ever applied for a credit card in my own name. I was recently divorced and needed to establish credit. I shopped there all of the time and loved the store at the Palm Beach Mall. I charged $50.00 and Sears wanted me to make monthly payments of $10.00 until I paid it off. They wanted to see if I paid my bills in a timely fashion. Two months later, I paid it off. I never got a credit card from Sears. I then went out and applied to American Express and got a credit card with no hassles.

I later worked indirectly for a Sears owned company, Coldwell Banker. They bought out Previews, Inc. in Palm Beach. It was never again the same. They had no conception of a boutique real estate company that marketed high end properties all over the world. They were still in the mindset of middle America and its wants.

Sears merged with K-Mart in 2005 and became Sears Holding Corporation. The early pioneers of the company had a pulse on the consumer. It had the best mail order catalog in the country, something that started in the late 1800's and is what grew its retail business. They began to diversify in the 1930's and bought Allstate and it established major national brands. Later on, they changed the way in which they paid their employees from an hourly wage based on longevity, to a base wage (usually anywhere from $3.50 to $6 per hour) and commissions ranging from 1% to 11%. This new base wage implemented in 1992, was done "to be successful in this highly competitive environment." Sears sold its Sears Tower and moved its headquarters which had been its identity for nearly 20 years.

Quality, inventory, service and price are requisites for success. Somehow Sears' decisions along the way failed or perhaps it is just a victim of our recessive economy. Some say they are not concentrating on their core businesses but rather concentrating on financial trades. Too bad. I hope it can get back to its roots as it has been around since 1893.