myrmad0n t1_iqs522q wrote on October 2, 2022 at 6:22 PM

From what I understand the owners of sears were free market fetishists who believed in "the power of competition" sooooo much that they had the departments of their own stores compete for resources

jay_sugman t1_iqswk3f wrote on October 2, 2022 at 9:12 PM

Sears was systematically gutted by the CEO to squeeze all the value out until there was little left. https://prospect.org/economy/sears-gutted-ceo/

myrmad0n t1_iqsx1bc wrote on October 2, 2022 at 9:15 PM

Turns out, we're both right https://www.businessinsider.com/eddie-lamperts-sears-strategy-disaster-2013-7

bignotion t1_iquq4fs wrote on October 3, 2022 at 6:12 AM

I'm not sure you can call the hedge fund douchebags exactly "the power of competition". At least in the sense that the phrase is intended. Let the best product win, but these guys are stacking the deck.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/16/investing/retail-sears-private-equity/index.html

jay_sugman t1_iqszuwl wrote on October 2, 2022 at 9:33 PM

Thanks for sharing.

PrpleMnkyDshwsher t1_iqt7qzx wrote on October 2, 2022 at 10:27 PM

Sad part is they had the inventory, logistics, supply partners and infrastructure to be the online monster Amazon is now. They even dabbled in some early online shopping ideas.

But sometime in the 90s they decided they would rather be a real estate holding company and shut down all the catalog distro.

throwawaysscc t1_iqt7bue wrote on October 2, 2022 at 10:24 PM

Craftsman tools. Kenmore appliances. These were great items, but are they now?