In 1989, Sears Roebuck & Co. ruled America as its biggest retailer, and the fall from that height may finally be nearing an end, Bloomberg reported today. Over the course of almost three decades, the company experienced what industry observers described as one of the most monumental collapses in business history. Despite its union with Kmart and a stated belief that it can still turn things around, Sears is teetering on the edge of disaster. The combined decline of Sears and Kmart, in terms of sales, is unprecedented, said Greg Portell, an analyst with A.T. Kearney. The seeds were planted by poor decision-making in the 1980s. No senior executive over the next 28 years was able to put stops in place to prevent the slide. “The management mistake that Sears made, in retrospect, was that they never got to a spot where they could stop the freefall,” said Portell. It has been a slow, painful fall for these once-dominant brands. Sears, in particular, was synonymous with suburban American consumerism. It dominated retail and changed the way people shopped through its revolutionary catalog business — the Amazon.com of its era. Kmart accomplished a lot as well, rising to a spot right behind Sears by peppering the nation with its Super Center big box shops and luring droves of shoppers with the promise of deep discounts, including of course the Blue Light Special. Sears and Kmart have watched their customer bases shrink amid a never-ending string of store closures. Sears and Kmart each chose to trudge along, with little change in strategy.
