(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
The last Sears in California [1]
['Rob Beschizza']
Date: 2025-07-27
With the closure of outlets in Whittier and Burbank, once-mighty retailer Sears is down to its last store in California. Anyone still shopping there will have to go to Concord's Sunvalley Shopping Center. SFGate's Kasia Pawlowska writes that the 139-year-old chain will have only have six stores remaining in the whole country.
With 233 reviews consisting mostly of one-star ratings, the store's downfall is a common theme. "I only went here to see the sorry and sad state of the once mighty Sears Department Store. It was like being in Ancient Rome in its final days," Courtney M. wrote in September 2023, leaving a two-star rating.
Once America's largest retailer, famed for its huge range of consumer goods and the thick mail-order catalog touting them, Sears peaked at "about" 3,500 stores and built the world's tallest skyscraper in Chicago. But it adapted poorly to the challenges of the 21st century, ignoring the internet until it was too late, selling out to private equity funds interested chiefly in the value of its real estate and other sellable parts, and eventually declaring bankruptcy in 2018. Along the way, it ended publication of its famed catalog in 1993, merged with Kmart in 2005 so they could decline together, and sold off famous sub-brands such as Craftsman and Kenmore. Though it emerged from bankruptcy in 2019, by then only 223 stores remained, still closing at pace.
My local Sears is now a gigantic sportswear retailer; in the years leading up to its demise, it became a slightly spooky mix of store and overstuffed warehouse. Presumably it was the biggest location in the region, with a service center and such, and was being used to house inventory from those closing nearby.
Previously:
• Sears expected to liquidate as last-minute buyout fails
• Sears Canada execs paid hundreds of millions in dividends before declaring bankruptcy and leaving 16,000 workers' pensions unfunded
• When you could buy a monkey from the Sears mail-order catalog
• RIP Sears
• Sears reaches out to neglected Zombie-American demographic
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://boingboing.net/2025/07/27/the-last-sears-in-california.html
Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/
