American comedian Ron White frequently tells a story about how his van was damaged in a comedic way by the technicians at a Sears Automotive Center in Savannah, GA. This week, that Sears Automotive Center is being torn down. While the shopping mall that former Sears location is a part of is otherwise doing well, the Sears has been closed for years. The department store end-cap building and the car service center in its out-parcel property are being demolished to make way for the development of a new apartment complex.
A link to Ron preforming the story for a live audience.
so weird. sears was such a powerhouse... a pillar of retail for so long. it was legendary during my youth. kinda sad how it was sold off/collapsed piece by piece, department by department
What's really amazing to me is they could have EASILY pivoted and become a mega online retailer like today's Amazon. They literally had all the pieces already in place with their catalog/mail order/warehouses.
Same thing happened to Blockbuster, the giants never think their day will come
At least Blockbuster had the excuse of a major technology change that obsoleted their entire business. You could argue they should have foreseen that as they were consolidating the industry and done more to welcome new models, but they were doomed.
Sears could have been a contender. They had all the advantages and fell through their own bad vhoices