Did The Internet Kill Sears? Last Store In Illinois Closes Soon.
Sears used to be the king of Chicago and Illinois, now it looks like the historic department store might be on its last legs.
Sears announced today that it would be closing their location at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, their last location in the state of Illinois. Their parent company, Transformco said that it was all part of their corporate plan to "redevelop and reinvigorate the property."
This is part of the company's strategy to unlock the value of the real estate and pursue the highest and best use for the benefit of the local community.
In other words, they are losing a ton of money on the store and want to cut their losses by getting another tenant in their huge building.
Sears fall from grace corresponds almost exactly with the explosion of online shopping. Sears used to be the king of catalogue shopping, mailing out their huge book of items for sale every year, but with online ordering came the extinction of catalogue ordering and Sears never made the shift to the World Wide Web.
They were founded in Chicago back in 1892 and had their office headquarters in the former Sears Tower, now called Willis Tower (by no one actually from Chicago). In the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the country. By 2018, it was the 31st largest and would declare bankruptcy in October of that year. In 2019 they announced that they would reduce the number of stores to 223 across the country and 2 years later after an unprecedented pandemic, the number of stores sits at 29. Truly a fall from grace.
It might be sad to see an American institution fade away but that's how time works. When was the last time you actually bought something from Sears? Like actually went into the store and bought something? For me it's probably been 15 years and I don't think I'm alone.
Just another major company swallowed whole by the epic whale of a company that is Amazon.
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