The long good-bye for Sears

Sears has filed for bankruptcy. Surprised? Maybe not.

Walmart overtook Sears as the largest retailer in the country many years ago. As other big box stores like Home Depot ate away at Sears’ marketshare, consumer loyalties shifted. In 2004 Sears was, of all things, bought by Kmart, which had just survived its own bankruptcy.

Sears once anchored the favorite shopping malls my mother frequented. I also recall spending many hours in a large distribution center which Sears also operated as a retail outlet just off I-70 in Kansas City. Sears was the place for electronics and clothing and shoes and …well, you name it.

Maybe it’s hard to get nostalgic about any big chain store. And yet, Sears is seared into various personal memories that have occurred throughout my lifetime.

Whenever we needed a new appliance, Kenmore was often the choice. No matter where you might move, Sears stores everywhere were service centers for the Kenmore products it sold. Craftsman tools were choice, too.

A local Sears store actually welcomed my family to Gallatin in more than one way. First, my name was the drawing winner for a 27″ color TV back when the Sears store formerly located next to the old Bank of Gallatin held its grand opening at its new location where Mi Mexico is now.

A few years later we connected with Sears again, buying our current residence from Sears store operators Carl and LaJoy Abbs. It’s been home to us ever since, with many fixtures and some decor still harkening back to Sears inventory. Sears products tend to last … even that lime green shag carpet in all our upstairs bedrooms that outlasted four kids (who still moan about their depraved environment growing up).

Gallatin hasn’t had a Sears store for decades, but Sears left its mark. The building now housing Mi Mexico Restaurant was once a sparkling new Sears catalog display store, later destined to be home to Breadeaux Pisa — THE teenager hangout and family eatery in Gallatin as we raised our family here. Without the initial Sears store, I question whether that building would have occurred.

Do you use a Discover credit card? Sears introduced that. Sears is even credited with the idea of the department store parking lot. For a time it seemed Sears touched everything — Allstate Insurance, stockbroker Dean Witter and real estate firm Coldwell Banker all were a part of the empire when Sears was on the grow.

We couldn’t even get away from Sears on vacation. One vivid memory occurred in Chicago when our family toured the Sears tower. For over 25 years the 110-story, 1,450-foot skyscraper was the tallest building in the world. Looking down from the view deck was impressive, but the memory most clear was the kindness of the elevator operator who helped my claustrophobic mother control her emotions in the tiny elevator that took us to the top.

Alas, the skyscraper was renamed as the Willis Tower in 2009, and today the iconic building ranks as the 16th tallest in the world. So, obviously, things change.

The Sears, Roebuck & Company catalog is secure in its place of Americana. But in this era of Amazon the catalog is a dinosaur. I read where Sears was among the first to launch a website, but it didn’t do well.

The company hasn’t turned a profit since 2010. It is reported that its new CEO, hedge fund manager Eddie Pampert, has bailed out Sears a few times with his own money but never figured out a long-term strategy.

No doubt Generation Z members just shrug about Sears’ fate.  We all do, to some extent. Sears is a reminder that longevity in the marketplace is not guaranteed, not among the mighty like Sears that once shaped the country’s shopping culture nor among the lowly and more modest like this little 154-year-old weekly newspaper.

Things change.