Originally Posted by
shovelhead
Sears was it's own worst enemy. The corporate decision to rid it's stores of well paid sales professionals in their stores, replacing them with low paid help was one of many failures. And no, I was not one of them nor ever did work for Sears. I started buying tools at Sears when I was about twelve, the store just amazed me at that time.
The "new" face of Sears at that time was ill trained and in many cases didn't gave a damn about the products they sold, all they were concerned with was getting their hours in. My final "WTH" moment came about when I attempted to have a Craftsman power tool replaced as their recall notice stated. Their "register operator" refused to replace it, took a phone call to the store manager to get that handled.
Sears and Mongomery Ward were our "go to" place via catalog stores, catalog orders or an infrequent trip to a large city while living in the rural Southwest in the 70's/80/s. By the late 90's that had turned 180 degrees, it became a fight to get a problem resolved whether a warranty or a maintenance agreement issue performed.
Their ill-advised cheapening of the products they were known for like Craftsman tools, their ending the long relationship with Whirlpool for appliances also led to their downfall. Probably the bad publicity surrounding the Sears Auto Centers in the early 2000's didn't help either.
My opinion the K-Mart merger was the death rattle for the chain, that and the Board of Directors figuring that their real estate holdings were more valuable than stores that actually sold merchandise.