The Sad, But True, Human Story Behind The Dismantling Of Once Iconic Sears

Submitted by Brian Sozzi of Belus Capital Advisors,

Catching up on emails and came across the one below from a now former Kmart employee. It really tugged at me, and it joined the 1000s of other disturbing emails I have received from former and current Sears and Kmart workers over the past six months. Visiting stores and combing through the financials are one thing, but to hear the human toll of decisions made by executives not engaged with the stores except to pick those that need to close due to their lack of action through the years is something else entirely.

A more complete picture has been formed for me as to what’s REALLY happening inside this once iconic national retailer, and the REAL economic trends (not jacked up government GDP figures and retail sales) on the ground across the U.S. four years post-recession, from reading all of this outreach. Friends, say hello to the REAL economy and the REAL story of a disintegrating, once iconic, national retailer Sears.

Outreach

“Hello Mr. Sozzi,

I am a former employee of Sears Holdings/K-Mart. I live in Streator, Illinois and our store was “liquidated” in early 2013. There are a lot of “ironies” affiliated with our particular store closure that I would like to make you aware of.

First, after yearly inventory in 2012, SHC signed a five-year lease at our location, assuring us employees that we would NOT be included in the list of store closures that were going on at the time. We were told that it would stay open for at least the next 3 years because of this lease. Sadly, that was not the case.

On a final note, I don’t want to hear SHC whining about their 250,000 employees that they clearly care NOTHING about. Ask any one of them to recall the last time they got an EARNED pay raise. At my store, there hadn’t been a raise given in over 6 years.

Simply put, you cannot expect productive employees to thrive on part-time/minimum wage. Top that off with the lack of investment on the store level and one would have to agree with you – they’re shooting themselves in the foot.

You are welcome to visit out Facebook page (Goodbye K-Mart 9804) to get a sense of how this has affected not only the former employees, but our community as a whole. In a city of 13,000, K-Mart was a life line for some of us, since there aren’t many options here. There were employees who had been at that location for 20+ years, and were tossed out like garbage.

As for Eddie Lampert, I hope he enjoys his exclusive island mansion and all of the perks that he’s afforded off the backs of people like me. I just hope I can find another job soon because I’m clearly one of the “little people” in his world that would just like to know my light bill will get paid.”

What Happens When a Kmart Store is Dismantled

Source: Goodbye K-Mart 9804 Facebook Page