Talk:Sears

A&E Factory Service (Sears Home Services) is still a current division of Sears Holding.

A&E Factory Service (Sears Home Services) is still part of Sears Holding. I think someone is getting Sears Home Improvement Products (SHIP) confused with Sears Home Services (SHS). SHIP which was a division within SHS has been sold to Service.com (with full completion in Jan. 2019) but SHS has not been sold to Service.com or any other company at this time. If the article used to site the info is reviewed you'll find no mention of SHS being sold.

We need to remove this portion from the "Former" section and back to "current" and swap the names.-> This should be labeled as Sears Home Services (dba A&E Factory Service)

Thanks

As far as I know the service.com sales failed to materialize as they were never named a qualified bidder, when it came down to actual bids it was just Eddie/ESL vs. The liquidators. So far as I know SHIP was never actually sold and is still owned by Sears, Yrly (talk) 10:07, 24 February 2019 (UTC)

Sears West Jordan

Sears closed its store in West Jordan, UT in November 2018.

Additional 80 stores closing

Sears Holdings is closing an additional 80 stores, including 43 Sears stores. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.59.245.106 (talk) 18:57, 28 December 2018 (UTC)

More Store Closing

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/sears-announces-store-closing-in-jacksonville-s-avenues-mall/984829749 FusionLord (talk) 10:28, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

I think this information should conflict with the standings of serious still having over 200 stores they had over 2,700 stores and now you stated that there's still more closing after not stating where you got the information from I think that you should reconsider your involved statement because even though they did retract their auto center stores and some of their department stores they still have over 200. Goldsmith777 (talk) 07:23, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

Links from the 'Sears' article to the 'Alvah Curtis Roebuck' article

The name 'Alvah Curtis Roebuck' appears 3 times in the 'Sears' article and in each case the name is a link to the 'Alvah Curtis Roebuck' article. However, the name 'Alvah C. Roebuck' appears once in the 'Sears' article and does not link to anything. Jsnyder527 (talk) 12:21, 22 July 2020 (UTC)

Sears founding date

Looking at several articles, there appears to be a bit of confusion regarding the actual founding date of Sears.

1. Sears archives lists 1893 as the official date - http://www.searsarchives.com/history/questions/index.htm
2. CNBC lists 1893 as the official date - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/12/timeline-the-rise-and-fall-of-sears.html
3. The Encyclopedia of Chicago History (TECH) lists 1893 as the official date - http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2840.html
4. Wikipedia lists 1892 as the official date - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears
5. Britannica lists 1886 as the official date - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sears-Roebuck-and-Company

Assuming Sears knows when it was born, and since third parties - CNBC, and TECH vouches for the birth year, it is propose that the date on Wikipedia be adjusted to 1893. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:9001:5504:E490:3135:A2B7:5944:B8C6 (talk) 22:06, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

If the founding date was 1893 the article also mentions $400k in sales their first year, and also being in a cash squeeze simultaneously. The 1886 founding date would make more sense in this case.

"Sales were over $400,000 ($12 million in 2024 dollars) in 1893 and over $750,000 ($25 million in 2024 dollars) two years later. By 1896, dolls, stoves, and groceries were added to the catalog.

Despite the strong and growing sales, the national Panic of 1893 led to a full-scale economic depression, causing a cash squeeze and large quantities of unsold merchandise by 1895." ~2025-41409-51 (talk) 22:41, 17 December 2025 (UTC)

Number of locations.

Somebody keeping’s adding that the number locations is 35, even though the number has decreased to 23 since May 2022. I’m asking that this be solved and whoever keeps adding this to stop adding outdated information. That number, 35, was from September 2021. More stores have closed since then. Quite a few sources mention this. 73.100.80.112 (talk) 01:41, 7 October 2022 (UTC)

Is not closed in jordan

not closed 2607:FEA8:A5E:9E00:5CA9:818A:86AF:3DBC (talk) 15:07, 23 February 2024 (UTC)

number of locations

The most recent source states that as of January 2024 are 13 locations (with 12 being in the US). Don't change this without a reliable source giving a new count.

And why were almost 100 stores in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean recently added to the article added? I have not checked all of them, but the 92 in Mexico are clearly not part of the company that this article is about. ^[1] Per Google translate: "... it was in 2016 that the Mexican magnate [Carlos Slim] bought the percentage of the shares that he did not own, separating his operation from the American holding company." I will remove these entries. Meters (talk) 00:25, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

Would Brostocks' article documenting the Sears locations be counted as a reliable source? It was used before and it's been updated to remove PBG and Jersey City. Usually updated each time a closure is announced. 47.187.158.70 (talk) 04:57, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

This is still an issue. Various editors insist on using WP:OR or WP:SYNTH to generate new new total numbers. The Brostocks ref has not been updated to reflect the latest supposed count. We can say that there were X stores open "as of" the date of the last reliable source we have for a total count, but it is WP:SYNTH to combine an old sourced count with a ref saying that another store has closed to generate a new count, and a reference that states that a store will be closing is not a reliable source to claim that the store has closed. Meters (talk) 09:27, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

For example, this July 9, 2025 ref^[2] allows us to say that the Puerto Rico store was expected to close in August 2025. It does not allow us to claim that the store is closed simply because it is now September 2025, and it is WP:SYNTH (and using an invalid ref, at that) to use it to claim that the number of stores open as of September has decreased. Meters (talk) 09:40, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

A personal YouTube video ^[3] is not WP:RS, and falsely claiming that an August 11 source ^[4] is from August 31 won't work either. Meters (talk) 10:06, 2 September 2025 (UTC)

The Softer Side of Sears

The slogan dates back to 1994? and relates to non-hardware stuff that Sears Roebuck and Co. was known for tools and appliances. including Kenmore (made by Whirlpool) and famously Craftsman? Was it to target men or women. in the past Sears was America's go to store before the Walmart-era. The 1980's was There's More of your Life era of Sears even with the 1984 logo. The 1990's had used some forgotten slogan "You Can Count on Me" from the early 1990's. predates the Kmart merger in 2004/2005. Winnebaggo (talk) 00:13, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

This article is terrible

Unfortunately, it looks like no one has the time, interest, or energy to research this topic properly. I certainly do not.

But one thing in particular jumps out to me as spectacularly wrong: "Sears declined from more than 3,500 physical stores to 695 U.S. stores from 2010 to 2017". This is not supported by the cited reference. It's also facially ludicrous. It would imply that Sears stores at their peak were as ubiquitous across the United States as Walmart Supercenters today, which was never the case.

If you look at Sears Holdings's actual Form 10-K annual report dated March 12, 2010, the company reported that under the Sears brand, it was operating 848 full-line mall stores, 60 Sears Essentials or Grand stores, and 1,284 specialty stores, for a total of 2,192 stores. The specialty stores include a large number of appliance stores which attempted to bring Sears's popular appliance and tool brands to towns too small to support a full-size department store.

The same report discloses that Kmart then had 1,292 regular stores and 35 supercenters. Adding that to Sears stores arrives at a total of 3,519 stores. So the 3,500-store number probably comes from sources which were referring to the total number of Sears Holdings stores. Any objections before I purge that statement for failing verification? Coolcaesar (talk) 15:50, 23 September 2025 (UTC)

I've edited the intro and the company card

Its not perfect. But Its better (I swear).

I've changed the picture to the Sears Tower because the Hudson valley mall picture make me sad (<-- important reason). And because it does not really represent the company anymore as all store are closed now. (Ok beside 5 that are empty or with relevant inventory)

"that are empty or with relevant inventory" Well I didnt find any good source for that (I know, pretty "my personal opinion" it seems). But it really is the case (the CBS source is very kind but if you go to youtube and see the interior of the store, its really empty).

All the current stores locations are listed for sale (apart for some, notably the amercan-something mall lawsuit 10$ per year lease that did go to supreme court) and, no, the recent kenmoore 5meter by 5 meter "renovated, innovation, new experience" square in the store in Florida don't count. (Remember, this store is listed for sale)

I removed the "In 2018, it was the 31st-largest." Because the source [11] says it was the 23st. But also because its irrelevant (the dawnfall started in the late 80's, the selling of the discovery card business who made nearly all of the profit for the entire company, changing consumer habit and the doomed future of malls.

I've rewrite the unreadable long sentence of the intro. Removed the irrelevant 16 January 2019 bankruptcy auction annoncement.

The wherewebuy.show source is not great as its not wikipedia good sources standard, but its one of the rare and only time someone at Transformco said something in public (Transformco is known to never said anything publicly, even store closure).

I've not modified or remove the last intro paragraph. I think the headquarter part of the last paragraph is cool although it may include story about the now mostly-demolished first Chicago HQ (before the Sears tower).

I think "On December 12, 2022, Sears Authorized Hometown Stores, LLC, and affiliated debtor Sears Hometown, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and on December 26 announced the liquidation of the 115 largely owner-operated Hometown stores." may be removed or put somewhere else in the article.

I've tried to get source that are wikipedia compliant but its really hard. The most information available are from old employee on forums. And news outlet don't really cover Sears.

Ertuit (talk) 22:54, 4 October 2025 (UTC)

Also, I remove the "revenue" and "operating income" because its from 2016. And its irrelevant. Ertuit (talk) 22:55, 4 October 2025 (UTC)

I've moved the last paragraph in their chronological place in the "history" part of the article (although the Headquarters part has been scrapped because it was redundant). I've rephrased a little bit. Corrected a typo in the intro.

I'm still puzzled if the main picture of the article description may describe the tower as "Sears Tower" or "Willis Tower". Although, I think "Sears Tower" is more appropriate (as its the article about Sears) and the name "Sears Tower" is still the most used.(https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Willis+Tower%2CSears+Tower&year_start=1980&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3)

I've added the datacenter part that the source mention ad I think its interesting.

I don't think the Data breaches deserve their full section, so I've removed the section and moved the data breaches description in their correct chronological place in the article.

There is a lot lacking. Especially the financial engineering part after the Eddie Lampert aquisition (including the bankruptcy, sells of key assets, split, re-merger, pensions, court proceeding...). The reasons of the dawnfall. Description of operation and logistics etc...

But I guess I'm good for now. Ertuit (talk) 18:44, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

Willis Tower

(@Ertuit) The tower's name is Willis Tower. I've added a "formerly" parenthetical to mention its old name. SSR07 (talk) 22:52, 5 October 2025 (UTC)

Hi ! Thanks for your edits !!

However I don't agree on the "Transformco pivoted to focusing on selling remaining real estate assets."

As Transformco did not exist before the bankruptcy so it cannot "pivot".

As well as they not only "focus on selling remaining real estate assets" but they manage them too, and for some assets, Transformco did not list them for sale.

I liked the "This has not stopped the downfall and as of 2025, only 5 stores are still open" part. I don't think its a biased language as it replaced the heavy "After several years of declining sales, Sears' parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. It announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction, and that a reduced number of 425 stores would remain open, including 223 Sears stores." part. so the idea imply that the chapter 11 did not reversed the downfall.

Maybe "From 2705 stores at its peak in 2011(https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1310067/000131006713000013/shld201210k.htm) and (https://www.searsholdings.com/press-releases/pr/406) , only 5 stores are still open as of 2025." would be more appropriate ?

Do we count sears hometown that was split off ? Do we count Canada ?

In addition to the 867 full line Sears stores, I think its fair to count the 1,338 Sears hometown (named speciality stores) and Canada (500 stores in 2011) in the 2012 annual report form 10-Q.

As for the Tower name, I like your edit. Ertuit (talk) 12:50, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

AI edit

An IP editor made a massive single edit Special:Diff/1329054639/1329568871 removing 5k of text and "reorganzation" that touched nearly every sentence in the article. I did some comparisons with old text versus new using a commercial AI detection service. There is no question the new text was modified by AI. The old text passes flying colors as human. It mostly involved removing specific details and replacing them with generalizations. This is precisely what AI does: algorithms revert to the mean, removing unusual specifics, and generalizing. As a result, significant amounts of context was removed that would otherwise help a reader understand and become an engaged reader vs. a bored or confused reader. The AI also improved sentence flow and wording, as AI is good at doing. I will revert the edit for now. -- GreenC 05:34, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

Is Sears in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina the last traditional Sears store that was built from the ground up?

This Sears store was located at the Coastal Grand Mall in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It opened in late 2004 and was closed on January 24, 2021. When a Wikipedia user (Meters) reverted my edits that I added a Sears store in Myrtle Beach to the article, these sources do not confirm when it when it was built, when it closed, or that it was the "last traditional Sears that was built from the ground up". Thomasfan1916^{[built buses?]} 20:17, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

Meters is correct that your edits didn't include sources that supported any of your statements. Are you asking for help finding sources to support the "last traditional Sears that was built from the ground up" statement as fact? --Onorem (talk) 21:02, 11 June 2026 (UTC)

Also, if it's that hard to find a source...does it matter? --Onorem (talk) 00:44, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

And user:Thomasfan1916 is continuing to add unsourced claims to this article, and continuing to inappropriately label their edits as minor. Meters (talk) 04:40, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

Splitting the history of Sears

I propose that the history section about Sears be split into a separate article called History of Sears. The history section of the page is by this point too large to be in the Sears page. Thomasfan1916^{[built buses?]} 21:30, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

• What I think should be changed:

I think the information should be changed because the company doesn't provide any factual information about the purchase and it does nothing but link to Wikipedia and Reddit and there's no factual basis behind the information that was presented and if it was I would love to see it I haven't seen any information no purchase no information can be found on a security trade commission website or any of that so I don't think they should be able to have been able to edit the information the way that they have in regards to the company there was never any valid purchase of assets or anything of that nature and I feel like it is a total sham that they have been able to trick you guys into producing the information the way that they have and it's nothing but editorial information that is not valid

• Why it should be changed:

Is that transformco os not present owner of Sears, Sears is still owned by two shareholders that have over 9 million shares and standing and they don't have any shares of the company that state that they are the current and president owner and just because they purchase assets doesn't mean that they bought the entire company they may have purchased into the company but they have way more assets than just a 5.2 billion if that is a figure and they still don't have any documentation that states that it is a valid purchase and that's why I feel the information needs to be updated and changed is totally affecting the way customers are involved with the company because they feel that the information being presented over the internet since you guys are a wiley recommended go to site that that's the way it is and when you look up the information most of it is cited from your site Wikipedia.orgor Reddit p

• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Goldsmith777 (talk) 07:08, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

Did transformco really purchase Sears assets for the 5.2 billion they claim

there have been no records that show that transformCo actually purchase Sears access for 5.2 billion or have anything to do with the current owner Eddie Lampert it shows that they state that they claim to own these assets but the company is worth so much more money than 5.2 billion dollars to the point where all of these clips that they show from wikipedia.org and read it or not enough to claim that they are the overall owner of the company they may have assisted in the bankruptcy but that is about all there is an undected announcement that all the requests to purchase more assets were denied due to frivolous business practices so that means that all the information about them currently being the owner to president is invalid and should be redacted and taken back to an original version that shows that series still is owned and operated by Sears employees and not a transformco company. Goldsmith777 (talk) 07:11, 20 June 2026 (UTC)