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Breaking News: Sears Finally Declares Bankruptcy


Nathanael D. Striker

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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-retailer-sears-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy-050851598--finance.html

 

The inevitable has finally happened: Sears declared bankruptcy. From the looks of it, they are trying to stay afloat for this holiday season, but past that has no assumptions; however, it is guaranteed at least 142 stores are closing.

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I mean, they have been in limbo for a decade, so the "finally" in the OP's title is truly the most telling thing about the entire situation.

 

It was nearly two years ago that I went to a Sears to find a replacement band saw blade (their Craftsman products use nonstandard measurements because of course they do). It was staffed by literally 3 teenagers who had no idea what was in there. Two of them were literally eating McDonald's, lounging in a furniture display, while the third played mobile games at the register. The only other souls in the store were seniors escaping the heat. And this was years ago.

 

So yeah, not really a surprise. They adapted incredibly poorly to the changes in retail over the last 2 decades, despite previously being the front-runner on innovation (their early adoption of mail-order by all means paved the way for future companies like Amazon, which ultimately put Sears out of business when the latter took far too long to shift toward the now internet-centric economy).

 

As much as I love market diversity, I feel very little pity for companies like Sears, K-Mart, or Toys 'R' Us, which refuse to shift with the market into something viable in the new age, instead blaming "the millennials" or similar buzzwords.

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So yeah, not really a surprise. They adapted incredibly poorly to the changes in retail over the last 2 decades, despite previously being the front-runner on innovation (their early adoption of mail-order by all means paved the way for future companies like Amazon, which ultimately put Sears out of business when the latter took far too long to shift toward the now internet-centric economy).

 

As much as I love market diversity, I feel very little pity for companies like Sears, K-Mart, or Toys 'R' Us, which refuse to shift with the market into something viable in the new age, instead blaming "the millennials" or similar buzzwords.

Like, nowadays you can practically open up your phone in a restaurant and order steel tools from china, fancy clothes from bangladesh, and some legos from denmark and amazon will have it all at your doorstep within a day or two, and that's if you don't find it in any amazon retail store, you can't beat how great and efficient and convenient that all is.

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