Leave Sears alone. It is an American Icon. Trustworthy, dependable and has been such an institution for a long time. Many families started out with Sears refrigerators, washers, dryers, you name it. They do and did produce a dependable product at a fair price.
Everything doesn't have to be the ultimate "newest" or "latest" upgrade, (if there is such a thing(?)).
Sears can be depended upon to "sell a good product at a fair price" and if not satisfied with it, the customer can be assured that Sears will "make it right", either by replacement or refund.

While I don't dispute the idea of keeping up with the times in terms of store decor, etc., there is another side to this which I think Sears has tapped into. For those of us who grew up shopping in Sears stores, there is a certain comfort and trust that is generated by being able to walk into a store that is much like it was when you were a kid. So much around us changes at a dizzying pace. It's nice to know that there are still some of the comforts of the past around where you don't have to worry about losing your hearing while you're shopping because the music is too loud.

My wife & I got our Sear charge card 47 years ago when we got married. In all these years we spent thousands of dollars and bought everything we could there. Last year when our card had a zero balance we were informed our rate of interest was increased to 35% and if we didn't like it that was just to bad. Within 5 minutes the card was cut up and put into a letter and went to the president. We never go into a Sears any more. No need to.

To the person who cut up his Sears credit card. Try paying cash. It saves a lot of money. Sears still offers value in many ways. I have been a Sears fan since the late forties. My grandfather bought farm machinery frim Sears. My first motor skooter was an Allstate.( made by Cushman) Remember the Allstate car? (made by Kaiser/Fraiser) All my tools are Craftsman. I'll be the first to admit that some of the tools made in China are a little shakey but nothing is made in the USA anymore. Everybody continues to compare Sears with Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot etc. But they dont all sell the same products. I will support Sears until it disappears.

I visit my local Sears. I used to get customer service when I visit the Sears store. Not anymore. I look an look for at lease an hr. The sales clerk are pretending to be busy doing something. To bad they may go with the Circuit City. They were Iconic before but they may go with the dinosaur.

I think most of the people who repied missed the point of this article. The question is where is Sears headed. How can a company grow and reach new customers if it doesn't change?

I worked at Sears for about 5 years, top in sales in my department & area trainer. I had to have 2 surgeries close together, not Sears fault, plus I had to sit/stand, so my store manager fired me instead of changing my job to one I could do. I was not happy.

I agree with the article in relation to the condition of Sears. It's a shame you didn't take the time to visit a K-mart store also, it would have definitely confirmed your suspicions. Eddie Lampert has made so much money from these two companies, but has put nothing back into them to make them profitable again. Just go into any bathroom in either of these stores and you'll almost definitely view how old and disgusting most of them are. The stores have old, dirty, and outdated fixtures. As for sales help, Sears stores get more payroll then K-mart stores so if you have a hard time finding help in Sears, imagine your delema at a K-mart. Both stores are great stores and could be great companies if Mr. Lampert would start investing in them a little instead of neglecting them. I'd rather step foot in a Sears or K-mart, before any Walmart, but if Eddie doesn't start investing in them, then he'll most definitely be selling them soon.

True, Sears is not the same Store that we had 30 years ago, but it is still the best for appliances. I have used all of the appliances for years and will cont. to do so. Try some other Store for them and you will see my point.

I know of one market Sears consistently ignores: the scientific research equipment/laboratory supply market. Less than 10 years ago, my colleagues and I turned to Sears first for certain items, notably refrigerators, freezers, microwaves and drills. The drills went first, followed by the microwaves. Why? Because we usually didn't plan to use those items for ordinary purposes, and we NEED the full set of specifications in order to best fulfill our needs. As that information became more difficult to find, our purchases dropped off.

We still purchase our refrigerators and freezers from Sears, because it's one of the FEW companies that still carries those items with a manual defrost option. We need to store our samples at constant temperatures, and you don't get that with automatic defrost.

More recently, we WOULD have purchased a wine cooler and a toaster oven at Sears, but again, the specifications and features we needed (no automatic shutoff on the toaster oven) weren't available.

Laboratory supply may be a fairly small market, but Sears wouldn't need to do much to assemble a flyer or brochure to be distributed to research facilities. Four or five representatives could probably cover the entire country.

Sears should wise up before the last of the old-time laboratory technicians retire--we are the ones who know to go to Sears first for certain items that fill our needs at a fraction of the cost of a regular scientific supplier. Sears has about 10 years to get it together before the last of my generation retires, taking most of our fixes and tricks with us.

I am a Sears Employee have been now almost 8 years. I work in a great store that is very clean. Our bathrooms are totally new and clean. Yes, our sales are down but so is evryone elses. The media keeps saying things are bad things are going to get worse. I suppose we could blame George Bush for that too. Seems to be the fall guy these days. If we all would quit listening to the media and jsut get out there and enjoy life things will be OK. The questions was "WERE IS SEARS HEADED?" My answer to that is: SEARS is going to be one day the largest and most profitible Company in the Market Place. NO we may never out sell WALMART. Who wants to. Low Quality, Products made by slave labor, and owned by Walmart in China. Was on TV so who wants to be like them, not us. Sears is a tradition going back 100 years. We still are and always will be the store that will tell you if your not happy please return your product for a refund of course people abused this policy so Lampert put a time frame of 30 days on that policy. Sears will grow things will change but for the good. Shop at Sears see the difference.

went to a kmart in the atlanta area! store was very bright and clean upon entering. thats where the mirage ended, for at 8:30 in the morning there was yes a total of 5 employees there! one manager, one service desk, 1 salesperson, a recieving person and office person! i foung out just by asking the service person why i could not get find any help, well i put in layway a lcd tv, craftman tools, and a lawnmower! it was the same employee who help me and noticing the stress on this person ask about moral, replyed 'very bad' why i ask answer not enough payroll dollars! well anyway customer service was great from this person but nothing more depressing than going shopping where the employees are getting beating down. well any way i like a good people atmosphere and this wasnt it, then went to a different store after work just to see if it was true and guess what yep, had to track down an employee could not find one and went to the service desk for help, this person did show up, same story as before! any way i will go now to target for customer service, less stressful employees, i get enough of that stress at work i want my shopping experence an enjoyable experence james guidry

I've tried shopping at Sears, being a shareholder and appreciating its iconic place in american retailing. Its tough! Promotions in appliances are tied to rebates which are denied for bogus reasons. Sales clerks don't know the merchandise or what qualifies for rebates. Few appliances are available for immediate or next day delivery. Its much easier to go up the street to Lowes. Lowes even honors their rebates! In the end, its just a hassle to shop and Sears for merchandise that can be bought eleswhere.

For the past several weeks, Sears has not run any ads in our local newspaper. Not knowing what to make of this, I'd be curious to know why K-Mart is always featured in a big, bright, colorful newspaper brochure, but no longer Sears! :(

As one who grew up during the "Sears Years," I have always been a faithful Sears customer, but I can relate that when K-Mart purchased Sears, the Sears staff became much less consumer friendly and not very helpful. If you are facing a fussy, uncompromising clerk while making a return or an even exchange, you will not be as willing to shop at Sears again. This being said, the sales clerks were extremely helpful during my last visit to Sears and the store seemed much more consumer friendly.

I really miss all of the media hype that was Sears, the TV ads, Christmas specials, and sponsored movies and programs. I never shop at Wal Mart and very rarely at Kohl's, as both stores remind me of huge warehouses. I also shop at JC. Penneys, which has a nice, boutique like look and atmosphere.

In conclusion, I really miss the friendly Sears atmosphere and media hype from Sears stores, especially the "softer side of Sears."

I went to a Sears a couple of weeks ago to purchase paint on a Sunday morning. There was one employee in the paint department and seven customers waiting. I decided to go elswhere. On the way out I noticed about five Sears employees in the tool department just standing around do nothing. Thats when I knew this company was in trouble. They have no idea what customer service is. I wrte to sears about this , no response. Kmart forget it, customer service does not exist. All sears is doing is give the candy store to Wal Mart.