Strange things at Sears vacuum department

[fan-of-fans]

Today I took a walk through Sears and noticed something weird with the vacuum department. Our store's vacuums are in the corner and uprights were along the two walls, with canisters and accessories in the middle of the area.

Today, ALL of the uprights along the wall were gone, Kenmore and other brands and the shelves had been taken down completely. The only vacuums still on display were Kenmore canisters and I think a Shark. There were a few Kenmore uprights in boxes out in the front.

I wonder what's going on. Are they going to redo the vacuum department or are they phasing out vacuums? I didn't notice anything like this in other departments, but the TV department aside it was looking pretty barren. Also the section between vacuums and electronics now is filled with dishwasher displays but they aren't really set up yet with countertops on top, etc.

Kmart's vacuum department looked the same as usual, lower end Kenmores and Hoovers, Eureka and Bissells.

I do wonder if the fact that canisters were the only vacuums on display at Sears means they aren't going to sell uprights, remember Cleva is now their supplier, and I didn't hear anything about Cleva making uprights.

 

[human]

Sears is circling the proverbial drain. Consumers and vendors have written them off and It's only a matter of time before the final chapter is written. My guess is Sears will be completely gone by 2020.

 

[dysonman1]

If you don't pay your suppliers, they won't send you any more vacuums.

 

[man114]

This is irrelevant to their financial situation from what I've observed.

They could be redoing the department like they did ours, it's moved twice in two years and vacuums are now on gondola style shelves as opposed to along the wall. They expanded mattresses in ours and moved luggage to where vacuums are.

Lower volume stores don't get much except for Sharks and Eurekas and they are phasing the electronics out of those stores. They also usually don't carry Dysons in those stores.

Check electronics to see if the new arrivals for this year have started to arrive, ours has started to get them in, after CES through May is usually used to clear out old models.

You'll probably be ale to figure out if your store is a lower volume one or not from that. If it's lower volume don't be surprised if it closes.

 

[daknx1994]

The Sears that I use to work at completely phased oUT their electronit's department and expanded their mattresses into it. I would either ask an associate or just wait and see what happens.

 

[daknx1994]

Sorry for the typo's.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Seems you are right-Sears vacuums are back

My mom went to buy vacuum bags a week or two ago and said they had moved the department. I went and had a look. The TVs are gone, vacuums are where they were and where the vacuums and small appliances were is where they put the mattresses, and the small appliances are now where the small mattress dept was.

And our Sears did have Dyson but it has been a few years, and Samsung they only had for a short time. When I went the other day, I saw Kenmore, Bissell, Hoover and Shark.

There was an orange metallic Kenmore canister and a red Kenmore Progressive bagged upright on clearance.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

The Sears in trhe famed

King of Prussia Mall closed. Ours in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton seem to be doing fine.
Our K Marts also seem to be OK.
But, I noticed fewer and fewer vacuums in K Mart stores. But, there are more and more freezers, dishwashers, laundry appliances, etc.
Sears' vacuums tend to be 'dismal'.

 

[human]

Sears and Kmart

The Kmart stores in my area are completely gone, along with the local distribution center. They've been gradually closing them over the past 15 years or so and I think the last ones shut down within the past six or eight months. The smaller towns seemed to keep theirs longer. I honestly don't know if there is a Kmart still in operation anywhere in North Carolina.

Sears is faring somewhat better. The Sears store at the mall cut its space in half about four or five years ago and leased the front part to Whole Foods. This really ticked off another local grocery chain that had an exclusivity agreement written into its lease, but neither they nor the mall's management could do a thing about it because Sears owns its freestanding building. Nonetheless, the interior of the store continues to look more and more sparse, just like its parking lot. Meanwhile, the Sears Outlet across town seems to be doing okay. It was opened about 10 years ago and is the epitome of 'no frills'. They carved out space from a Super Kmart when they shut down its grocery operation and rebranded it as a Big K. They didn't even bother to build a wall between the two stores. They just defined the space with shelving units and pegboard. It stayed like that until the Kmart closed in 2014 and the former Kmart space was cut into three smaller store spaces, including the Sears Outlet.

 

[kirbysthebest]

The Sear's at Towne West Mall began paring down their vacuum line before their demise. 


At first they went from two isles to just one, then no end caps. Finally the demise of the store itself. 


 


There is still a store in the Towne East Mall, but I rarely go there.  It was pretty well stocked when I was there in March, but the bags were slim to nill pickings.   When I inquired, they directed me to their catalog parts department.

 

[eurekaprince]

Though Sears Canada just announced the closure of many stores across the country, we seem to be lucky in that the vac departments still look robust and healthy. Our stores have mostly Kenmores, Dysons, Mieles, Rowentas (from France) and some Hoovers. Just visit sears.ca and you'll see what we get up here at Sears in Canada.

 

[myles_v]

All of the Sears stores near me seem to have a decently sized vacuum section, if I had to pick a big box store to buy a vacuum from then it would be Sears because of the selection of bagged Kenmores.

We just lost another KMart, 3 minutes down the road from a Sears. The Kmart was neglected for years, the ceiling tiles were all yellow and nasty, the fixtures were outdated and falling apart, and they slowly downsized everything. They even took out 3 checkout lanes about a year ago. Their vacuum selection was terrible, but their vacuum aisle was horrible 10 years ago too.

Half of the items in that Kmart looked like they had been sitting on the shelves gathering dust for years, so it's no wonder it finally closed. I was happy to see that they have an At Home store opening to replace the Kmart, I drove by and the entire building was gutted about 2 weeks after Kmart officially closed. All that remained was the concrete building itself, they even cut out a large portion of the front for a new entrance. This was a welcome sight since buildings tend to sit empty for a long time here. There's a large grocery store that closed at least a decade ago, the building has sat empty since.

 

[man114]

Rumor from an associate I know is most electronics will shift to online for floor space to free up room for furniture. I know some of the stores already have furniture.

 

[man114]

The Sears closest to me just expanded their Vac dept since we were last there. This must be on a store by store basis.