There was a time when Sears was so big in American retail that having the store’s catalog in hand…well, 30 years ago, that would have been like banking on Amazon or any of today’s modern online big box retailers.
But times are changing quickly for Sears.
Earlier this year, the one-time giant was downsized to eight locations, and now eight is down to five, According to the latest report from the Wall Street Journal.
To put it in perspective: Sears was once the largest retailer in the United States, with 3,500 stores.
“The company has been in a death spiral for over a decade,” former Sears executive Mark Cohen told CBS. “It ignores the fact that change is constant.”
Still, given the footprint the retailer once had, the idea of only five remaining might come as a shock to many Americans of a certain age.
Kmart spent $11 billion to acquire Sears back in 2005, but the stores have failed to keep up with retail competition from the likes of Walmart and Amazon. Sears filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and acquired a stake in the company in 2019. But the troubles have continued since then, with the retailer hanging on by a thread.
For those who want some nostalgia and make a trip to the store before it disappears, the last five Sears locations are in Coral Gables, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Braintree, Massachusetts; Concord, California, and El Paso, Texas.
Read the original article at pennlive.com.
