Circling the drain...
If Sears and Kmart were people, they'd be in hospice care. It's only a matter of time before they're just a memory. Kmart is pretty much gone from North Carolina and the number of Sears stores is dwindling. Greensboro has a traditional Sears at the upscale shopping mall. It was extensively remodeled and subdivided five or six years ago with about a third of the space leased out to Whole Foods. We've also got a Sears Outlet across town, which I understand is actually a separate company. It occupies part of what used to be a Super Kmart. When they downgraded it to a "Big K" about ten or twelve years ago, they subdivided the interior of the store and set up the Sears Outlet without actually building any permanent walls between the two, just pegboard between the shelving units. The wall finally went up after the Kmart closed down in 2014. I guess they were waiting for the new tenant, a discount retailer called Gabe's, to pick up the tab for that.
I've heard more than one person say in recent months that they're not considering Sears for a needed appliance purchase because they don't think the company will be around to stand behind the product. I think both Sears and Kmart will be completely gone in the next 3-5 years and that's a generous estimate. A few reminders of Sears may live on, however. The Craftsman tools brand will outlive Sears since it was sold to Dewalt/Stanley earlier this year and I could see the same possibly happening with Kenmore appliances. There may still be some value in the name even though it's essentially a re-badge brand. Sears will also likely cut Land's End loose and it would likely survive the sinking of Sears as a mail order/ecommerce business. I could actually see Amazon acquiring it.
