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Sears Canada (1952-2017)

  • Thread starter CanadianNational
  • Start date
It's unclear what these two will be able to accomplish, given that the overall company continues to be run by the same people who have gotten it to the present precarious position, and who as merchants make really good hedge fund managers.
 
I was in two different Sears locations recently, Scarborough Town and Fairview. STC seemed very empty. Not of people but it reminded me of Target, hardly anything in stock. I think they had a good Christmas but they still had a lot of winter outdoor clothing. A lot of retailers got bit by the warm weather and have a lot of winter outerwear still. The Sears at Fairview was much better stocked in most areas. Again it had lots of outerwear.

The small Sears store in Cobourg was converted to an outlet location recently. My mom actually likes it better than the old way.
 
donoreo said:
I was in two different Sears locations recently, Scarborough Town and Fairview.
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We had discussions a few years back on this thread about how some of us always park near the Sears store when going to a mall on a weekend (especially when there used to be a Sears at Yorkdale). Easiest spot to get a spot near the doors since fewer people want to go to Sears than the rest of the mall. Was that how you ended up at these Sears stores?

donoreo said:
I think they had a good Christmas
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Not taking issue with it, but wondering what you saw which led you to say that.

donoreo said:
The small Sears store in Cobourg was converted to an outlet location recently. My mom actually likes it better than the old way.
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Don't blame her.
 
donoreo said:
I was in two different Sears locations recently, Scarborough Town and Fairview. STC seemed very empty. Not of people but it reminded me of Target, hardly anything in stock. I think they had a good Christmas but they still had a lot of winter outdoor clothing. A lot of retailers got bit by the warm weather and have a lot of winter outerwear still. The Sears at Fairview was much better stocked in most areas. Again it had lots of outerwear.
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Scarborough Town Centre's owners (Oxford and OMERS (?) have an option to buy-out the Scarborough Town Centre Sears lease - your observations could be an indication that that will proceed (?) to make room for Simons.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sear...cations+Toronto+area+malls/8525526/story.html

Mr. Horst would not comment specifically on reports that La Maison Simons will move into Scarborough Town Centre in 2018, except to say that it would be a desirable tenant. In June, Simons' CEO Peter Simons said that he was going to open a store in the mall, as well as at Oxford-owned Yorkdale Shopping Centre in 2019.
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http://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2015/11/stc
 
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I wonder how long they'll hold on to the massive site they own at Islington and Rexdale Blvd. Such an eyesore and horrible waste of land.
 
Bruno Republic said:
What's left?
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Bankruptcy. (As sad as it is to say).

Eddie is almost finished completely gutting the company. You have to think MBA schools will be comparing and contrasting how Eddie took over a profitable and competitive Sears and killed it versus how Richard Baker took over a moribund Bay and turned it around.
 
Remember that Sears was never a "downtown" type of store (i.e. it opened a downtown Vancouver store (Harbour Centre) in the 70s and closed it in 1987).

It only became a downtown store when it took over Eaton's - its customer base is mostly in smaller cities and towns and the suburs.
In a way, what they are doing now is reverting to their suburban roots..
 
I think it's more that they're going back even earlier than that, before they had roots, or stores, anywhere.

42
 
ILuvTO said:
Bankruptcy. (As sad as it is to say).

Eddie is almost finished completely gutting the company. You have to think MBA schools will be comparing and contrasting how Eddie took over a profitable and competitive Sears and killed it versus how Richard Baker took over a moribund Bay and turned it around.
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I like shopping at Hudson's Bay, but I'm a ten minute walk to the Queen Street flagship. I'd take a very different view if my local store was Bloor Street, or the Downtown Winnipeg store, which has two floors almost entirely sealed off. There are some suburban Bay stores that don't look much different than Sears. The difference is that the HBC ownership cares about investing in its prime locations, while Eddie Lampert would sell off anything of value.
 
ShonTron said:
I'd take a very different view if my local store was Bloor Street [...] There are some suburban Bay stores that don't look much different than Sears.
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Agree with you that, if given the choice, I would always opt for the downtown store (I think the 5th floor is great). But I don't mind the Bloor store. The problem with the Bloor Store (besides it's bunker-like exterior) isn't so much the staff, merchandise or displays - it's the low ceilings.

And suburban Hudson's Bay stores are okay too. I haven't been to all that many, but enough to have get the impression that they offer nicer shopping than Sears. The Hudson's Bay and Sears stores at Fairview are night and day. The Hudson's Bay at Eglinton Square isn't bad (although I suspect it's a long-term lease which keeps it open rather than any strong desire by HBC to be in Eglinton Square). I happily shopped at the Hudson's Bay at Bayshore in Ottawa.

The downtown Winnipeg store hasn't sealed off two floors - they only have two open floors remaining (main and 2)! Five floors (by my count) are sealed off. Says a lot about downtown Winnipeg.
 
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