Talk:Sears

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 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)

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)

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)

(@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)

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)