Stuart Elliott: As Christmas Nears, Sears Faces the Harder Side of History

For instance this will mark the first Christmas since 1957 that Toys quotRquot Us in its familiar format won39t be around because hundreds of stores went under earlier this yearamp160 Loyal customers will have to make do with Geoffrey39s Toy Box pareddown popup versions of the superstores inside selected Kroger supermarketsA skein of departmentstore chains owned by BonTon Stores including BonTon Carson39s ElderBeerman and Younkers also went under earlier this yearThe flagship Lord ampamp Taylor store on Fifth Avenue scheduled to be shuttered in the new year has already begun its closeout salesamp160and will scale back its beloved Christmas windows from six to just twoamp160 Another Fifth Avenue mainstay Henri Bendel is going out of business as its parent L Brands shuts all Bendel stores saying goodbye to a retail brand that39s 123 years oldPerhaps the biggest blow to the Christmas shopping habits just like the ones we used to know was the recent decision by Sears to declare bankruptcy making it possible that this could be the final Yule for the onetime powerhouse chainamp160 Edward Lampert the hedgefund billionaire who has run the retailer into the ground claims that he has a plan for a comeback which quotlooks a lot like its previous turnaround plansquot the New York Times declared quotclose unprofitable stores sell properties and borrow more moneyquotYou certainly could make a case that a Sears farewell would be the inevitable result of what39s been a long goodbyeamp160 Under Lampert the brand has been declining for years the victim of his bad and greedy decisions such as selling off profitable pieces of the company to entities he controls mismanagement by an everchanging cadre of senior executivesamp160and intensifying competition from brickandmortar rivals among them Walmart and Lowe39s and online challengers principally AmazonIt39s also clear that shoppers are less enamored of the traditional department store format that Sears has epitomized with its middleclass vibe and allthingstoalmostallpeople merchandise focusamp160 Still Sears heading off into the sunset would be a sad story not only for its remaining employees suppliers and customers but also for the ad and media businessesamp160 Just as Sears39 workers once were able to accumulate nifty retirement nest eggs in the form of pensions and stock the company once feathered the nests of the many agencies that created and placed its campaigns as well as the myriad media outlets that ran themSears laid out huge sums each year on marketing especially when it still went by the name Sears Roebuck ampamp Companyamp160 In 1991 Sears spent 118 billion according to Advertising Age making it the country39s fourthlargest advertiseramp160amp160Writing in the Times in 2002 I estimated that Sears39 annual ad spending totaled between 600 million and 1 billionSears ad slogans were part of the vernacular among them quotWhere America shopsquot quotThere39s more for your life at Searsquot and quotCome see the softer side of Searsquot the latter introduced in September 1993 to promote the retailer39s clothing lines by linking them to hardgoods brands such as Craftsman and Kenmoreamp160 The search for a shop to create the apparel ads which began in early 1993 set off quota feeding frenzyquot among agencies I wrote reflecting how prestigious it was back then to work for SearsHow intrinsic was working for Sears to life on Madison Avenueamp160 A search I did for quotSears advertisingquot and my byline in the Times yielded about 5250 resultsamp160 By contrast the campaign that Sears is introducing for this holiday shopping season is being created inhouse rather than by an outside agencyamp160 The list of shops once on the Sears agency roster reads like a Who39s Who of adland including Ogilvy ampamp Mather and Young ampamp RubicamAdAge reports that the Sears campaign for Christmas 2018 is quothoping to capitalize on feelings of nostalgia for the oncemighty retailerquotamp160 Wow that39s a weird marketing strategy First take an American icon to the brink of extinction then capitalize on the emotions generated by fears that the icon may disappearamp160 It39s almost like the old joke about the kid who kills his parents and then asks the judge for mercy because he39s an orphanI acknowledge that it may be foolish to be wistful about Sears39 potential endamp160 It39s been a while since Sears was what it had been at its peak so I might be pining for a shopping experience that hasn39t been available since Reagan or Clinton was in the White HouseAnd to be sure American retailing and business in general are Darwinian in natureamp160 One reason Sears became so dominant was that after World War II it outsmarted a principal competitor Montgomery Ward by foreseeing the demographic shift to the suburbsamp160 Likewise Walmart supplanted Sears as the nation39s largest retailer with more modern tactics such as everyday low pricingSometimes though when one mainstay vanishes another emergesamp160 For instance fiveandtencent stores Woolworth Kresge Kress JJ Newberry WT Grant are history but dollar stores largely have filled the voidamp160 And while we may soon be unable to enjoy the softer side of Sears or any side for that matter perhaps Sears39 demise would help Kohl39s or JC Penney or Macy39s keep their doors openSo this holiday season shop till you drop or shop till your store drops out of sightamp160Editor39s Noteamp160 Look for the next Stuart Elliott Report a quot20 Questionsquot column on Wednesday November 21Photo credit Ron DauphinUnsplashClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Stuart Elliott: As Christmas Nears, Sears Faces the Harder Side of History

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