PHOTOS: It’s the end of Sears as we know it, and I feel fine

By Darren Johnson
Campus News

There’s talk that Sears may get a last second reprieve, but I’m not sure anyone really cares.

There’s no “save Sears” movement going on anywhere in cyberspace. I mean, there is enormous uproar all over the Internet whenever a crummy sitcom gets canceled, but with the Sears deep-six all we hear are crickets.

Yesterday, I went to my local mall store in Saratoga Springs, New York, which is closing Jan. 18, and they have some sales going on, but there were few pickers. Only about four employees remained in the disheveled store, and there were an equal number of customers.

Contrast this to when I was a kid, and hoards of people would fill the store, oohing and aahing at the wall of TV sets, the kids sneaking a round of “Combat” on the Atari display before getting a screeching call from a parent, self-consciously awkward teens coming in and out of the dressing rooms in poorly fitting clothes, to be judged by family, friends and passersby, people pretending to ride the tractors, pose with the shapely mannequins…

Now the store was dark, lonely. You can buy the mannequins for $75. Who does this? Hopefully not lonely people. You could buy the shelves, displays. And lots of junk. And, even at 30-70% off, the prices weren’t that great. The problem is, Sears has always marked up stuff so much, it wasn’t worth buying unless on sale. But, still, even on sale, I can find better prices online.

And Sears hasn’t been busy for quite some time. In recent years, I’d buy a lawn mower here, a wrench set there, and there was never a line. Often, I’d have to track someone down to check me out, as registers were left unattended.

Sears was always good, not great, and people don’t get all that nostalgic over mediocrity. Good bye, Sears. Sorry you’re leaving, but we’ll be fine without you.

Anyway, here are some photos from the closeout. Click them to make them larger.