Season’s greetings at Sears: Dingy shops, sparse shelves

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly 10 months out of bankruptcy, Sears is limping into the holiday shopping season.

Eddie Lampert, the hedge fund billionaire who promised to save 425 Sears and Kmart stores and roughly 45,000 jobs when he bought the company out of bankruptcy, has seen his $5.2 billion lifeline wither.

While there were plans for new small stores centered on appliances, only three have opened. The chain is still shrinking. By February, the store count will be down to 182.

Many of the stores that remain have the same old problems. They’re grungy and understaffed, poorly stocked and losing vendors. At the end of the year — a crucial time for retailers — Sears’ threadbare Black Friday catalog signals it’s going to have problems getting shoppers to its doors. And online, it can’t compete with Amazon and its traditional rivals.

“They used to be top of mind, particularly during this time of year,” said Coye Nokes, a partner at OC & C Strategy Consultants. “Now, they’ve faded into the landscape. They’ve become irrelevant.”

The ever-shrinking Sears means more job losses. Thousands of jobs are gone, although Sears’ owner through a spokesman declined to say how many since Lampert bought the company out of bankruptcy in February. There are fewer choices for shoppers and suppliers. It also puts more pressure on malls, which must figure out how to fill the gaping holes left by Sears.

Lampert’s failure comes as no surprise to industry experts. He was the only buyer who offered Sears a lifeline at all — other bidders just wanted to liquidate the chain — but he had already presided over a long decline of Sears going back more than a decade.

The signs at Sears are ominous heading into the holidays, when retailers acquire new customers.

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