Michigan Says Goodbye to Sears

**Danny** · February-14-20, 08:38 PM

The Last Sears Dept. Store at the former Livonia Mall location in Livonia,MI. on Seven Mile Rd. and Middlebelt Rd. Will be closing it's doors for good. We will miss the way we buy goods and services from building homes that is ordered from the catalogue to buying clothes. Goodbye Sears! Thanks for over 80 years for service in Detroit and Suburbs.

https://www.newsbreak.com/michigan/l...oit-is-closing

**Metro25** · February-14-20, 11:52 PM

Meh, who really cares. It will be kinda weird having Sears not exist anymore.

Chicago lost their golden goose of over a century. Sucks for them. I wonder if in a alternate reality it would have been possible for Sears to transition into an Amazon.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · February-16-20, 04:37 PM

The handwriting was on the wall. J.C. Penney's is next.

**softailrider** · February-16-20, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

The handwriting was on the wall. J.C. Penney's is next.

You ain’t kidding about J.C Penny. Went there to shop for a mattress, they have them on the lower level, beautiful selection, must have been 40 different mattresses to chose from. Not a single sales person on that floor, I called the store on my cell twice, they said they would send someone down there. After about 30 minutes we just left, talk about horrible / non-existent customer service. Couldn’t buy anything if you wanted to.

**canuck** · February-17-20, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by softailrider

You ain’t kidding about J.C Penny. Went there to shop for a mattress, they have them on the lower level, beautiful selection, must have been 40 different mattresses to chose from. Not a single sales person on that floor, I called the store on my cell twice, they said they would send someone down there. After about 30 minutes we just left, talk about horrible / non-existent customer service. Couldn’t buy anything if you wanted to.

Probably due to a coupla clerks testing said mattresses somewhere down there...

**hybridy** · February-17-20, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by canuck

Probably due to a coupla clerks testing said mattresses somewhere down there...

Had similar experience with Sears 2 years back. Ordered $3k worth of new appliances. Tried to buy in store, but the single clerk was busy with another pair. Waiting 30 mins for another employee. Just ended up ordering online instead.

**Wesley Mouch** · February-17-20, 11:06 AM

G*d bless Amazon and Creative Destruction.

Think about those fine clerks at Sears when you hear Bernie Sanders promising a job for everyone. He'll make sure the quality that is Sears is universal.

**catch22** · February-16-20, 08:24 PM

The Westland store is still open, and is not on any closure lists that I know of. But it's just a matter of when, not if. There's a store in Grandville too, but it will probably disappear when Westland does.

**Jimaz** · February-17-20, 12:29 PM

Now I can't get Camarillo brillo out of my head.

Is that a real poncho...i mean
Is that a Mexican poncho
Or is that a Sears poncho?

**CassTechGrad** · February-18-20, 10:46 AM

I got my very first credit card at Sears, around 1972. I got a coat, I'm gonna check up in the attic to see if I still have it!

**Hermod** · February-19-20, 07:29 PM

Sears was Amazon for decades. Then they decided to get out of the mail order business and Amazon came a long and took over. I can remember in 1963 when I arrived in Ft Hood, Texas. The local town was Killeen which in those days was a wide spot in the road. The local Sears was a very small storefront. Down one side was a line of appliances and down the other was a rack of auto tires. In the back was a catalog desk top do Amazon type shopping.

**djtomt** · February-20-20, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Sears was Amazon for decades. Then they decided to get out of the mail order business and Amazon came a long and took over. I can remember in 1963 when I arrived in Ft Hood, Texas. The local town was Killeen which in those days was a wide spot in the road. The local Sears was a very small storefront. Down one side was a line of appliances and down the other was a rack of auto tires. In the back was a catalog desk top do Amazon type shopping.

It blows my mind that the original "internet" store, catalog shopping giant Sears, couldn't adapt to the internet age. What an interesting paradox.

**Hermod** · February-23-20, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by djtomt

It blows my mind that the original "internet" store, catalog shopping giant Sears, couldn't adapt to the internet age. What an interesting paradox.

Amazing that Sears, Wards, and Penneys all had major catalog business at one time. We always had the current edition of all three catalogs in the house In the day before porn became readily accessible, I learned about women from the underwear pages in the catalogs.

**401don** · February-24-20, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Amazing that Sears, Wards, and Penneys all had major catalog business at one time. We always had the current edition of all three catalogs in the house In the day before porn became readily accessible, I learned about women from the underwear pages in the catalogs.

That's pretty messed up, not having National Geographic I mean.

**Uncledave54** · February-24-20, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

that's pretty messed up, not having national geographic i mean.

fdlol!

**Danny** · February-20-20, 12:43 PM

Of course the SEARS in Westland Mall will the last one in the Michigan!!!

**Danny** · February-20-20, 12:45 PM

When Toys R Us closed BLAME AMAZON!

When K-Mart Closed BLAME AMAZON!

When Sears Closes what can we do BLAME AMAZON!!!

It's all your fault AMAZON!!

**LarryC39** · February-20-20, 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

When Toys R Us closed BLAME AMAZON!

When K-Mart Closed BLAME AMAZON!

When Sears Closes what can we do BLAME AMAZON!!!

It's all your fault AMAZON!!

**Dbest** · February-23-20, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Danny

When Toys R Us closed BLAME AMAZON!

When K-Mart Closed BLAME AMAZON!

When Sears Closes what can we do BLAME AMAZON!!!

It's all your fault AMAZON!!

Amazon is for lazy people. Convince me otherwise..

**Trumpeteer** · February-23-20, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by Dbest

Amazon is for lazy people. Convince me otherwise..

Don't think we could confuse you with the facts....

**Pat001** · February-24-20, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Dbest

Amazon is for lazy people. Convince me otherwise..

I wanted to buy LED turn signal bulbs for my motorcycle. I drove to three different auto parts stores and a motorcycle dealership, but no one had the bulbs I needed in stock. So I went on Amazon, found the exact bulbs I needed and received them in the mail two days later.

I needed a replacement O ring for a leaky Grohe faucet but no hardware store or plumbing supply company had them in stock. The only place I could find one was on Amazon.

Convince me I'm lazy.

**Richard** · February-24-20, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Pat001

I wanted to buy LED turn signal bulbs for my motorcycle. I drove to three different auto parts stores and a motorcycle dealership, but no one had the bulbs I needed in stock. So I went on Amazon, found the exact bulbs I needed and received them in the mail two days later.

I needed a replacement O ring for a leaky Grohe faucet but no hardware store or plumbing supply company had them in stock. The only place I could find one was on Amazon.

Convince me I'm lazy.

I just canceled my amazon prime,I think they are bait and switch,they started out with lower prices but a lot of their vendors are also on EBay at half the price.

The last two orders they said next day from the warehouse 5 miles away and never even showed up.

Even with their streaming service,order a movie that says $3.99 HD and get billed $7.

I still order from Sears and it shows up within two days.

Sears has probably the largest online free cache of owner and service manuals and parts breakdown in the country,for appliances and lawn equipment,even for older models that many copy for their site.

I wonder what is going to happen if they take that offline.

**Richard** · February-27-20, 09:07 PM

Here’s a bit of Sears history

RICHARD WARREN SEARS, 1863 – 1914
FOUNDER OF SEARS, ROEBUCK AND COMPANY
Few people realize that Richard W. Sears, founder of the Sears and Roebuck financial empire, played a significant role in the early history of lumbering in Suwannee County, Florida.
Richard Warren Sears was born 7 Dec 1863, in Stewartville, Minnesota. He was educated there in the public schools. Sears became a qualified telegrapher and worked several railroad jobs, starting as a freight engineer and train dispatcher.
In 1886, realizing the need of keeping railroad schedules, Sears began a small business selling pocket watches. He purchased a supply of watches and telegraphed agents up the line that he would sell the watches on the installment plan. Sales were so good the following year, that he moved his business to Chicago, the railroad hub of the Midwest. Through a newspaper advertisement for a jeweler to repair his returned watches, Sears met Alvah C. Roebuck. In 1893, they formed a corporate partnership, creating a general mail order business that bore the name Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Sears had sold lumber in his youth and was lumber conscious. He realized the white pine forests of the Northeastern United States were rapidly being depleted. His interest turned to Florida’s forests of southern yellow pine. He retired from the presidency of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1908 and two years later came to Florida.
In 1910, due to poor health, Thomas Dowling sold the Dowling Lumber Company, the Live Oak, Perry & Gulf Railroad Company, several saw mills and several hundred thousand acres of timberland in Suwannee, Taylor and Lafayette counties to Richard W. Sears. Sears changed the name of the business to Standard Lumber Company.
As the timber was cut the lands were hardly worth payment of taxes. Having become successful in the mail order business, Sears conceived the idea of selling his cut-over lands on the installment plan. All lands were surveyed and cut-up into twenty and forty acre tracts. The survey records showed better than 5,000 acres to be swamp land and practically worthless, whereupon a book value was placed at 25 cents per acre. One tract of 2,600 acres was sold for 26 cents per acre, a profit of 1 cent per acre. Another tract of 2,700 acres was sold for a profit of 38 cents per acre. This left the Company with approximately 100,000 acres of good land that needed to be disposed of. On February 19, 1913, the corporation of Suwannee River Land Belt was formed with a capital of $200,000.00 with the Standard Lumber Company being the parent Company. Both offices were located in Live Oak.
The Suwannee River Land Belt Company marketed cut over timberland in 20-acre tracts through the Sears and Roebuck catalog. The lots were sold on a monthly payment plan at $11 an acre - $5 down and $5 a month – with 3 percent interest on the unpaid balance. During the first five years, more that 5,000 sales were made throughout the United States and Canada. When the company was finally dissolved in 1965, over 10,000 people had purchased Sears’ cutover timberland in Suwannee and neighboring counties.
After Sears’ death in 1915, his widow, Anna L. Sears and her two sons expanded the operation of the Standard Lumber Company.
In general, times were good. A new mill and community were built. Situated in Hendry County adjacent to the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, the mill town was, appropriately named “Sears.” However, a contract with Florida Industrial Company to log $2.5 million of south Florida slash pine timber in Lee and Hendry counties spelled failure to the Standard Lumber Company. Soon the lumber market declined and became depressed. Following a lawsuit by the Florida Industrial Company the Standard Lumber Company became insolvent. It was sold for nonpayment of taxes in 1936.

**401don** · February-27-20, 09:47 PM

In Canada Sears stores were very confusing for many years. When Sears 1st came to Canada they were a joint venture with a Canadian dept. store chain called Simpsons. They called the "Sears" stores Simpsons-Sears and weren't allowed to operate within so many miles of existing Simpsons stores. Customers were getting confused so they just rebranded them Sears. The Simpsons stores got bought out by Hudson's Bay I believe.
Many of the closed Sears stores here are now becoming fitness centers. Wonder how long that will last before the casual people get tired of paying for their memberships.

**Richard** · February-27-20, 10:03 PM

Is Hudson's Bay related to Hudson’s in the States?

Hudsons-Dayton’s became Marshall fields then Macy’s then Target.

I had a Hudson’s credit card back in the 80s,a cashmere sweater that I bought for my then wife was $120 at Hudson’s but I bought it for $65 at Daytons and they were the same company.

I do not get the fitness places,$10 per month takes a lot to pay the rent,most that I know sign up,go for a few months then no more.

Drive by them and they always seem to have people in them.