Sears Will Finally Go Out of Business

"Sears, once known as Sears, Roebuck and Co, was founded in 1892. Its store count peaked at over 3,000, and it was the largest retailer in America for decades, until Walmart topped it in 1990. By 2005, Sears had weakened so much that hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert bought it for $11 billion, using his ownership in Kmart to complete the transaction. The combined business declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018."

"The current Sears store count is five. CNN recently reported that this year's Black Friday will probably be its last. A former Sears executive, Mark Cohen, told the cable channel, "Someone unlocks the door in the morning and locks it at night, but there's actually nothing to sell in the stores." In a world in which most even modest-sized retailers have hundreds of stores, and Walmart has almost 5,200, five locations means a retailer already has more than one foot in the grave."

"The debate about what killed Sears is endless. One reason is how much debt Lampert had to take on to buy the company. This led to an inability to update aging stores. Another is that Sam Walton ran Walmart so well that hordes of retail customers moved to its stores. Walmart has also been blamed for the demise of Kmart, which was founded in 1899 as S.S. Kresge."

Sears was founded in 1892 as Sears, Roebuck and Co and grew to more than 3,000 stores, becoming the largest U.S. retailer until Walmart overtook it in 1990. By 2005 hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert acquired Sears for $11 billion using his Kmart ownership; the combined company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018. The chain now operates five stores, with this year's Black Friday likely to be its last, and stores are largely empty. High acquisition debt prevented store updates, Walmart's execution drew customers away, and rapid growth of Amazon absorbed much of Sears' traffic. Sears could not defend against Walmart and Amazon.

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