The Future of Macomb Mall [[Sears to Close)

[Shai_Hulud]

I was just looking at the merchandise on At Home's website. Their stuff actually makes the crap at Art Van look like quality merchandise.

Most of At Home's garbage looks like it will be in the landfill inside of two years after purchase.

I went in there once and was shocked by how cheap everything was. Rickety chairs, uneven tables, watery stain on paper thin veneer over cheap press board. A horrendous waste of resources.

[dtowncitylover]

I was just looking at the merchandise on At Home's website. Their stuff actually makes the crap at Art Van look like quality merchandise.

Most of At Home's garbage looks like it will be in the landfill inside of two years after purchase.

Well the clientele around Macomb Mall can't exactly always afford to go to Pottery Barn or Williams Sonoma, unlike you godly Grosse Pointers.

[313WX]

I've been getting emails for a Macy's overstock/outlet. If I'm not mistaken, at Oakland Mall.

Definitely not a good sign when a location has become an "outlet."

[Maof]

i stand corrected. It's at the Fairlane Mall inside the existing Macy's and they're call it Macy's Backstage.

[SyGolden48236]

Well the clientele around Macomb Mall can't exactly always afford to go to Pottery Barn or Williams Sonoma, unlike you godly Grosse Pointers.

I don't even know what or where a Pottery Barn is. I've never been to one let alone heard of it. I've never been to a Williams Sonoma either. I have a disdain for shopping malls in general.

But the schlock on that At Home website looks far inferior to the furniture that Sears itself used to sell. We furnished our son's college apartment with furniture from Sears and it has held up well to this day. He now has it in the basement of his house.

There is nothing Godly about us folks in the Pointe, son. Were just normal people, no different than anybody else.

[pocketchange]

I am not all that impressed with At Home based on the Utica store. Wide variety of tchotchke things, but of questionable quality and surprisingly high priced. Looked at some planters there, found same ones at Home Depot for 15% less.

[Zacha341]

Yeah I purchased a few cup coasters and lamps there but was not impressed with their furniture. Seemed dreadfully cheap!

I went in there once and was shocked by how cheap everything was. Rickety chairs, uneven tables, watery stain on paper thin veneer over cheap press board. A horrendous waste of resources.

[Honky Tonk]

I am not all that impressed with At Home based on the Utica store. Wide variety of tchotchke things, but of questionable quality and surprisingly high priced. Looked at some planters there, found same ones at Home Depot for 15% less.

I agree. Never been to one but browsing their website, it looks like cheap Asian imports, photographed nicely, and marked up for millennial purchase.

[Onthe405]

Definitely not a good sign when a location has become an "outlet."

i stand corrected. It's at the Fairlane Mall inside the existing Macy's and they're call it Macy's Backstage.

Backstage is Macy's attempt to compete with Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Ross, Nordstrom Rack, etc which have been stealing increasing market share from their mainline department stores for quite some time. Most retail analysts view this as a can't-win for Macy's on the basis that [[even if it's successful) they will ultimately cannibalize their own struggling business.

The whole appeal of pawing through random "marked-down" high-end designer merchandise at these 'off-price' retailers is that: a) it's not an option as easily replicated online and b) the customer believes they are getting Nordstrom or Saks cache at a Target price.

Generally Macy's quality, merchandising [[endless "sales"), and overall condition of their stores has declined so dramatically over the past 30 years, they're basically already a discount store. Not much victory for hard core bargain-hunters in getting cheapy merchandise cheap.

http://www.freep.com/story/life/shop...ane/337089001/

[courtney]

If that's true it's great news. At Home is a highly profitable, rapidly expanding big box retailer moving into MI.

They may be expanding, but they moved into Michigan many years ago. They were formerly known as Garden Ridge. The location on Hall Road has been there since at least 2005, if not earlier than that.

[Lowell]

Meanwhile the elephant in the room stomps forward...

Amazon gets $5 million state grant for new $140 million facility in Romulus
Online retailer promises 1,600 new jobs

In other words they will create a faction of the jobs they are displacing.

[313WX]

They may be expanding, but they moved into Michigan many years ago. They were formerly known as Garden Ridge. The location on Hall Road has been there since at least 2005, if not earlier than that.

There is also a Garden Ridge / At Home at Fairlane North.

[Maof]

Went to sears today. Already demolishing the area where the tools department was.

[Zacha341]

That exactly what it is. Well photographed indeed! There's a whole business [[B2B, B2C) and increasingly online culture of flipping cheaply made stuffs made in China for US consumption. Even marketed as get-rich quick schemes [[you buy in bulk and resale individually) for those who want to turn-stile the stuff.....

I agree. Never been to one but browsing their website, it looks like cheap Asian imports, photographed nicely, and marked up for millennial purchase.

[Maof]

Apparently, only half of the store will be occupied by At Home. Stopped in today and one of the managers said he wasn't sure what they were going to do with the other half. Should have just kept Sears as i was told that's what they did at the Oakland Mall store. Another sales person was very upset. Had worked there 20 years and "they lied to us until the last minute". They haven't even offered them positions at another store.

[mtburb]

I have just the plan for that other half: tear it down and replace it with a movie theater like how they did the former Southland Mervyn's.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Another sales person was very upset. Had worked there 20 years and "they lied to us until the last minute". They haven't even offered them positions at another store.

It is silly to think that while the company is an ever-accelerating death spiral that they would be hiring at any location whatsoever. And although I genuinely feel bad about anyone losing their job, it has been so blatantly obvious for at least five years that the company was actively winding down, so it should not be a shock to receive a pink slip. Eddy Lambert took 2 sick but salvageable retail icons and decided to sell and shrink them to death, rather than fix and improve. He's both a horrid person and a failure professionally.

[313WX]

It is silly to think that while the company is an ever-accelerating death spiral that they would be hiring at any location whatsoever. And although I genuinely feel bad about anyone losing their job, it has been so blatantly obvious for at least five years that the company was actively winding down, so it should not be a shock to receive a pink slip. Eddy Lambert took 2 sick but salvageable retail icons and decided to sell and shrink them to death, rather than fix and improve. He's both a horrid person and a failure professionally.

Not everyone follows business trends as intensely as you and I.

No matter how you spin things, it is still management's obligations to be up front and honest with their employees about their plans. Sears failed to do so in this one instance we know of, thus shame on them.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

Not everyone follows business trends as intensely as you and I.

No matter how you spin things, it is still management's obligations to be up front and honest with their employees about their plans. Sears failed to do so in this one instance we know of, thus shame on them.

I am not attempting to defend Sears in the slightest. They have been a-holes to employees, creditors, suppliers, landlords, customers and everyone else for years. Their actions are both unethical and immoral. Your use of the word "shame" is appropriate. But that doesn't mean that having your own Sears or Kmart shutter relatively suddenly should be a surprise. THEY ARE ALL CLOSING, AND SOON. Any staffer who was surprised was willfully blind to the obvious. My best wishes, though, to all those affected. Advice to current employees at other locations: look to get out now. No benefit in staying, and they won't be offering you a generous severance.