DID YOU KNOW SEARS CLOSED 562 STORES IN THE LAST YEAR AND THEY ARE STILL LOSING $450 MILLION PER QUARTER?

This bloated pig is on the butcher’s table. It’s dead pig walking. I thought they were closing 200 or so stores based on what I had read in the past. Lo and behold they have closed 562 stores, or 25% of their existing base from one year ago. Wow. That sure sounds desperate. Now for the funny part. I assume they closed their 25% worst performing stores. You would think that would result in higher sales in the remaining stores, as the reverse cannibalism affect would occur. Well these retailing geniuses managed to generate NEGATIVE same store sales of 7.5% to 9.6% at their disgustingly run down Kmart and Sears stores. Maybe their merchandise sucks and their staff is on par with their customers. 

This despicable example of a retailer has now jumped far ahead of JC Penney in the bankruptcy race. Their balance sheet says it all:

  • How could these idiots close 25% of their stores and only reduce the inventory on their balance sheet by 4%? This is a disaster in the making as this terrible Christmas season will leave them drowning in inventory.
  • They have only $294 million of cash, but owe over $700 million in debt in the next year.
  • They have NEGATIVE $1.3 billion of equity and $7.5 billion of long term debt and obligations.

If you can’t make money after closing your 25% worst stores, you are dead. Eddie Lampert is a blithering idiot who keeps doing real estate deals to keep this bloated pig afloat. I predict this sucker will be declaring bankruptcy before June of 2016. More empty anchor locations coming to a ghost mall near you.

Sears narrows loss, but revenue falls 20%

Published: Dec 3, 2015 7:14 a.m. ET

Sears Holdings Corp. narrowed its loss in the third-quarter as the company closed some stores.

Kmart same-store sales declined 7.5%, while Sears domestic same-store sales were down 9.6%, as apparel and consumer electronics sales declined.

Still, Chief Executive Eddie Lampert remains optimistic about returning to profitability “by concentrating on our best stores, rewarding our best members and pursuing our best categories.”

Sears had 1,687 stores at the end of the third quarter, down from 2,249 a year earlier.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Mr. Lampert said Sears is focused on product offerings and promotions to boost member engagement through the holiday season.

Sears reported a loss of $454 million, or $4.26 a share, compared with a loss of $548 million, or $5.15, a year earlier. Excluding items such as store closures and amortization, the adjusted loss widened to $2.86 a share from $2.71.

Revenue dropped 20% to $5.7 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast an adjusted loss of $2.84 a share on $5.5 billion in revenue.

During the quarter, gross margin decreased $339 million to 21.9% on a decline in sales and gross margin rate, which the company attributed to a decrease in occupancy leverage, partially offset by an improvement in overall product margin.

Sears has been struggling to transform itself by investing in new technologies and services to better equip it for the digital age.

It also has focused on returning to profitability, sometimes at the expense of sales. The company has said that in many merchandise categories it is logging improvements in profitability despite sales declines.

Earlier this year, Sears spun off 235 properties into a real-estate investment trust it created called Seritage Growth Properties, and it also created joint ventures that hold additional properties with three mall owners. Together, the transactions raised $3 billion in proceeds.

 

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Dutchman
Dutchman

I was in a Sears (Ridgedale Mall – Minneapoils) – very upscale mall. Sears was deserted. You could have shot a cannon through there – and not hit anyone.

Reminded me of Professor Peabody and his WayBack Machine.

Anonymous
Anonymous

How does a company loose that much money on a constant basis and still stay in business at all?

RiNS

I don’t shop much. I leave that to my wife.

I would say they lose money because people go to these places expecting to get deals, mark downs. Sharks are circling.

Anyways I was recently in two Sears stores. One Halifax, the other in New Glasgow. The one one in Halifax looks like it hasn’t been updated for 25 years. I swear to god I felt like I stepped thru a Stargate and was transported back in time to 1983. Even the bins holding all the Chinese made crap looked the same. A little worse for wear and needing a coat of paint or a wash cloth to get rid of the dust.

The one in New Glasgow is closing next September. It was announced this week. Where I live in Antigonish that store closed a couple of months ago. End of August. The Halifax location is now a “Clearance Centre” . It will likely close once all the crap they can’t sell anywhere else is moved there and marked down.

Jim
Jim

The next Sears is Macy’s. Outside the holiday run up, this chain is empty — literally. And no one buys without massive 20% off coupons. I literally bought Perry Ellis shorts for $8. How can they not be losing tons of money? Its all accounting tricks. As a matter of fact, I went to my local Macy’s a couple of times at 7 pm last February where I bought another decent quality designer name pants for $15 and was the only one on the whole floor besides the lone cashier. This is a 3 floor Macy’s that must 300,000 sq. ft. There is NO way this chain is making any money. Out.

Iconoclast421
Iconoclast421

You can pretty much tell all of this by looking a stock chart of SHLD. It’s 50 week moving average is lower than the lows of 2009! That is not a good sign! And it has been this way for over a year now.

Lysander
Lysander

Good thing the CEO’s of all the failing corporations are well vetted, college educated professionals. Otherwise imagine how much more worse off their businesses would be. /sarc/

You know, I could last a long time in this society and live large if I could get low interest loans and credit cards and was able to roll over the debt constantly without being called on it.

robert h siddell jr
robert h siddell jr

No problem. After we all pay all our insurance bills, house and car payments, property taxes, credit cards, utilities, Federal Income Tax, etc, we’re going to get a .38SPL LCR for our pocket, a folding stock carbine for the car and some more ammo, set aside some emergency cash for when the banks close to scalp our accounts, and then we’ll all go shopping with what’s left!

Bea Lever
Bea Lever

Watching Sears die is like waiting for the collapse…….painfully S-L-O-W.

Die already , PLEASE !

kokoda
kokoda

The big difference between Sears and J C Penny is that Sears owns the property of a lot of its stores – that equals cash when sold or leverage to borrow.

starfcker
starfcker

Anonymous, lampert’s job is to wind sears down, extracting as much as possible along the way. The real estate scam is a perfect example. Sell the real estate, and you turn dead money into profits. Profits that can be used for executive compensation, stock buybacks, etc. Mcdonalds is gearing up for that right now. The new corporate raiders

Anonymous
Anonymous

Robert,

Pick up some Buffalo Bore +P LSWHC for that LCR. A bit hard to find and more expensive than average but well worth it.

Outstanding performance in that short barrel short cylinder revolver. Basically the old standard FBI snub nose load on steroids.

starfcker
starfcker

Jim, target took over the one at the hollywood mall, and walmart is building on the site that was the hollywood fashion center macy’s. They are putting walmarts on what appears to be a 5 mile grid. We are an agenda 21 test metropolis

starfcker
starfcker
starfcker
starfcker

And I agree totally. sears is toast

Peaceout
Peaceout

In our area they closed two Sears stores within 20 miles of each other but they replaced them with a much smaller store that just sells Craftsman Tools and Kenmore appliances. They also do catalog sales and catalog and online pick up. Parking lot is still empty most times I drive by.

starfcker
starfcker

Peaceout, you would have thought with their monster catalog business, they could just have rolled that into e-commerce seamlessly. Couple that with the strong brands they had, craftsman, kenmore, diehard, etc. and it could have been different. I guess wall street had other plans for them.

Westcoaster
Westcoaster

Pulled into Sears auto service dept a couple of Sunday afternoons ago to have a slow leaking tire on my Prius checked. There was one car in the entire shop and a bunch of grease monkeys sitting around the shop shooting the shit. They got right on my car but I had to buy a new tire. I’ll bet it was their biggest sale of the day, because the rest of the store was a ghost town.

Dutchman
Dutchman

Here in Minneapolis we have a Neegrow Sears. There is a 1st ring suburb called Brooklyn Park – actually it’s called Crooklyn Dark.

At one time there was a real mall there – but the Neegrows drove everyone out until they closed it about 5 – 8 years ago and tore it down.

All that remains is the Sears.

kokoda
kokoda

Admin….WHEN sold.

starfcker
starfcker

Newbies should read this. It’s a classic. http://www.theburningplatform.com/2013/03/25/available/

Spinolator
Spinolator

Sears is not toast. It’s bacon!

Jim
Jim

Totally not surprised by Barnes & Noble– a store I actually like to visit, but not buy. One of the few remaining B&N’s is in an upscale suburban strip. I go there doing lunch and NO ONE is buying books. It has become more of a gift shop-a rudderless ship. Not a recipe for success. And thats a shame because the lack of book buyers is the canary in the coal mine about the dumbing down of America. A few stores down is the Apple store- Packed with Imorons whom now represent America. Not a pretty site.

Joey
Joey

Rather disappointing to see all this gloating over, not just Sears, but so many brick and mortar outlets going down the tube of destruction. In past times I have seen Sears as a responsible merchandiser with decent products, good service and good backup. So, why are you folks all so gleeful? Sorry, but I don’t get it. Maybe you are happy to know that Mommy and Daddy will be coming home now with no Sears paycheque to support their kids. Is that it? Does that thought light up the mind with joy??
I don’t get it.
Maybe you are hoping for a soon time when amazon and a few other multi zillionaire outfits will have such a lock on sales that your choices will be few and far between. The fact is that the way it looks, it won’t be stopping with Sears, regardless of management. We are likely soon facing a shut down of just about everything but war, everywhere, and maybe even on your back porch.

And, no, I never was associated with Sears, except as a satisfied customer, and no, when someone’s house is burning down, unless I can help, I don’t follow the thrill seekers. I sadly walk in the other direction.

Billy
Billy

Sears used to mean something…

Remember when Kmart was like Target? Clean. Nice. Good selection. Not a whole lot of cheap-assed chinky shit. Decent prices and a competent staff.

Now, I can’t even find a Kmart. They’re extinct as far as I know.

Sears is walking down that same road. Remember when the Sears Die-Hard Gold battery was THE fuckin car battery to have? Damn things lasted almost forever and they ALWAYS worked… haven’t seen an ad for that in years… I don’t even know if they still make them.

Instead of investing in what they got – hire better people, etc, – they simply close stores in an effort to prop up their stock prices so their Higher Ups and Muckity Mucks get their huge salaries…

Fuck em. I hope they end up as extinct as the dinosaurs…

Edit: I remember when the rot started. I had a set of Craftsman tools. Still have some of them. I invested a fair pile of cash for those tools – this was back in the 80’s.

Anyways, I had a 1/2″ drive shit the bed. The guts fell out of it. I used that a lot, and pretty hard, so I wasn’t concerned. Machines break. It happens.

Walk into Sears – where I bought the set – and handed the man-child Clerk my busted ass drive. He hands me a baggie with some parts in it…

“The fuck is this?”
“We’re only liable to replace what’s broken”.

Okay, motherfucker.

I go home, cinch the busted ass drive in a machinists vice and beat the fuck out of it with a masonry hammer. Completely destroyed it.

Go back to Sears. Find THE SAME clerk…

“Here”.
“What is thi -”
“My fuckin drive broke. Replace it”.

Asshole glared at me – I stood there smirking, DARING that motherfucker to say some shit… go on, fuckhead, say some shit about how I purposely destroyed your fuckin Craftsman drive just so you can eat my shit and give me a new one.

He hands me a new drive.

“Have a nice day..”

I thought he was going to crack his teeth, he was gritting them so hard… 🙂

ALEX JAMES
ALEX JAMES

HEY. I was at Macy’s. I got this 20 % coupon, another 20 % the clerk at the register put in for me & another coupon for 30%. The name brand designer shirt cost me only $15 . Nobody was in the store , 1 week before Christmas. How does Macy’s make money at this rate ??? GET ME MORE COUPONS MACY’S. MAYBE YOU CAN GET IT DOWN TO WHERE YOU ACTUALLY PAY ME TO TAKE AWAY YOUR MERCHANDISE !

Sensetti
Sensetti

Sears is going the way of Monkey Wards. Montgomery Wards went out of business after Christmas 2000, just as Admin has predicted Sears will do.

Joseph
Joseph

Look for Sears to declare Chapter 7 (meaning assets will be liquidated), perhaps right after the close of U.S. financial markets on March 24th (the last day of trading before Easter weekend), to minimize damage to the major U.S. stock indices, with the remaining stores shutting down by early May.

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