The following is one person’s blunt analysis of whether the once retailing giants will last much longer. Your thoughts?
Esquire Article
It was a great story, but it was not a retail story. It was a real estate story, perfect for 2005. And then the real estate market crashed.
All of a sudden, the whole strategy began to unravel. With no interest from big-box retailers, the merged entity — now known as Sears Holdings — had to struggle to find its footing as actual businesses. It’s been a disaster. In the six years since the merger, revenue has declined every single year and income has fallen a shocking 84 percent. This year, the company has dropped to tenth place among top retailers for the first time ever. In a recovering retail climate, Sears is the only store in its category to show negative same-store sales — down 4 percent. Kmart has fallen from third in its category to a very distant fourth — even Target ($66 billion) and Costco ($59 billion) have pulled away from Kmart’s sorry $17 billion.