The Swamp

Yep.

Reading the actual article now, it looks like it is a Chapter 11 *for now*, but it's hard for me to see how they can survive.

Sears shuttered up here back in January.

Now how am I gonna get into the actual mall?

What was everyone's last time in Sears, other than to get to someplace else? For me it was around 2012 when I was mattress shopping. Tested a bunch of mattresses at Mattress Firm and Sears and then bought from someone else online.

I actually bought a couple of pairs of jeans there in the past year. I didn't like what Macy*s had available, so I wandered down to the anchor store at the opposite end of the mall and Sears had Levis on sale. Nice!

Probably appliance browsing in 2004ish.

Sears sucks ass. Last in there maybe several years ago for a TV stand. Selection price service all sucked. Plexiglass shell around the electronics section? Mother bought me an appliance around 15-20 years ago on order Needed bigger size and was willing to pay difference but they killed me on a 15% restocking fee I couldn't justify paying out of principle so I returned it and went to home Depot for an admittedly inferior product that is still running now. Good riddance. Oh I did take baby pictures of the kids 10 years ago. Absolute money scam but better to shut up and smile than feel the wrath on that one.

We bought our washing machine from Sears about 6-7 years ago.

I have a Sears snowblower that's lasted me at least 14 years. I thought it was finally dead last November but replacing the spark plug brought it back to life.

Maybe when I was looking for a new washer or dryer or such in early 2000s. Wife said we should go and see what they had after seeing the Sunday paper ciruclar (so I know it was early in 2000s as I was still paying for the WaPo). Walked in, had a terrible customer experience (bad customer service, knowledge, dirty, lighting stunk, etc), walked out.

The worst part is Sears impact to Lands End (a decent brand) and the continued death of Kmart (which is probably already dead for most of America). Also did not realize Sears sold Craftsman to Black and Decker last year.

Side note: Sears near my house/gym is standalone and a really strange looking building (across the street from the top notch Home Despot and Dogfish head Brew Pub).

Actually wait, this is very sad...

That male nightshirt made me laugh hard

Sabo wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:26 am We bought our washing machine from Sears about 6-7 years ago.

Same. (Of course, we're the old guys.)

Well, at least the Sears Tower lives on.

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:36 amWell, at least the Sears Tower lives on.

About that...

(Unless that's a joke.)

Johnnie wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:51 am

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 11:36 amWell, at least the Sears Tower lives on.

About that...

(Unless that's a joke.)

Yes, but it's actually a meta joke because everyone keeps calling it the Sears Tower anyway.

Damn right, Sears.

Whatchatalkinabout, Jhonnie?

I still call it the Jordan Marsh Building

One time for the combat zone.

L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 12:46 pm Whatchatalkinabout, Jhonnie?

Took me a "short" time to get that.

Rex wrote: ↑Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:16 am What was everyone's last time in Sears, other than to get to someplace else? For me it was around 2012 when I was mattress shopping. Tested a bunch of mattresses at Mattress Firm and Sears and then bought from someone else online.

2005. Bought a dishwasher, and they fucked up the install. I went to a Jets game, my wife was home with our newborn baby and the kitchen and basement flooded. Sears displayed less than stellar customer service, and we officially boycotted.

Yep.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consum ... d_nn_tw_ma

To help the mourning process, please hilariously list regional(?) department stores from when you were a kid.

Zayre
Rich's
Caldor
Bradlees
Lechmere
Service Merchandise
Ames
Jupiter
Wilson's

Special shoutout to Hilson, which I think was only local but was basically a big hardware store with that kickass fertilizer smell and then in about 1986 they started renting videos out of the back near where they serviced snowblowers and made keys, and I would rent roughly 93 WWF Coliseum Videos every week when my grandfather needed birdseed and tools.

Woodward and Lothrop... Commonly referred to as Woodies.
Not a department store, but another local retailer that ran things for awhile was Britches.

Roses
Jamesway

Ann & Hope
Kmart

Is Kmart regional? Same question about JC Penny's.

Ryan wrote: ↑Tue Jan 08, 2019 11:16 am To help the mourning process, please hilariously list regional(?) department stores from when you were a kid.

Zayre
Rich's
Caldor
Bradlees
Lechmere
Service Merchandise
Ames
Jupiter
Wilson's

Special shoutout to Hilson, which I think was only local but was basically a big hardware store with that kickass fertilizer smell and then in about 1986 they started renting videos out of the back near where they serviced snowblowers and made keys, and I would rent roughly 93 WWF Coliseum Videos every week when my grandfather needed birdseed and tools.

Man, I recently had this discussion with someone and even went to the Wiki to learn more about Zayre and Ames because one replaced the other in Revere when I was little.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayre

To add:

Montgomery-Ward (when I lived in Salinas)
Woolworths (Was that a "department" store?)

Not department stores, but nostalgia-gasm inducing none the less:

Coconuts
Strawberries
Somerville Lumber

Montgomery-Ward and Woolworths definitely aren't regional.

We have one in Texas called Bealls. They're typically the only one in some of the smaller towns (20k or so). It's somehow become an inside joke between my wife and me based off this convo a couple years ago:

Her: How's LaGrange?
Me: They have a Bealls
Her (for reasons unbeknownst to me): uncontrollable laughter

So now I text it to her whenever I see one on my random roadies or we laugh when we pass them.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Jan 08, 2019 11:47 am Is Kmart regional? Same question about JC Penny's.

KMart was even up here.

When I was a kid, Eatons was the retailing behemoth.

"Sears" was known as "Simpson's-Sears" and when the Simpsons company went bust, Sears became pretty widespread. But the Canadian arm went bust a couple of years ago. Even before that, it was a grim shopping experience

Meis department stores which turned into Elder-Beerman which then became Carson's and now sits empty anchoring a few malls.
Spiece Sporting Goods
Hook's Drug Store
Marsh Supermarket

Rink's
Cook's (replaced Rink's)
Hill's

All department stores like a Kmart. Cook's holds a special place in my heart for the 1984 Fleer rack packs for $1.

Kresge's
Fortunoff
Woolworth's

Also, Caldor made me laugh a lot, that was a staple

Pretty sure Caldor Poughkeepsie is where I bought my first ever cassette (Born in the USA).

And mine was Sears. (Raising Hell)

((And my first CD was from Coconuts)) (((Get a Grip)))

In my hometown, we had a Kmart, Sears, Montgomery Ward, JC Penney, Woolworth and then, Woolco, for nationals. But we also had Hesteds, Tempo, and Gibson's. All gone.

Two Guys
Clover
Silo (bought my first tv there, a 9" B&W, for $44, circa '87)

h/t to Caldor and Bradlee's

I didn't know Steven Tyler was jewish.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Jan 08, 2019 11:22 am Not a department store, but another local retailer that ran things for awhile was Britches.

I still have at least 1 polo shirt with a warthog

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 97a3f0f45f

Also I always thought the Warthog soccer team had relationship to the store but apparently it was just Abe Pollin as the owner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Warthogs

My mom used to shop at Bradlees, Caldors and Zayre (in depreciating order). My brother and I used to stay for a week to ten days with my grandparents in the Catskills area (New Baltimore, NY)...and we'd start the stay off with that first morning spent at the local Jamesway to buy us toys.

That was fun. We'd visit the Baseball HOF, Fort Ticonderoga, Carson City, Catskill Game Farm, Frontier Town...I'm sure there were other amusement / theme parks I'm forgetting about.