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Sadly To Me Everything Is Changing
#1
So much of what I am familiar with and like is changing.
So many things.
This is one of them.
Its like in a movie the world I know is going away. I cant do anything about is.


Sears ready to file bankruptcy later tonight as former US retail giant tries to stay alive
4:00 PM ET Fri, 18 May 2018 | 03:17
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Sears Holdings plans to file for bankruptcy protection after midnight in the East Coast, culminating the collapse of what was once America's largest retailer, people familiar with the situation tell CNBC.

As part of the bankruptcy plan, Sears will immediately close roughly 150 of its stores, people familiar with the matter have said. 

It has approximately 700 stores, one of the people said.

It is unclear how the closures would impact Sears' workers, which totaled roughly 90,000 in February 2018.

Sears will aim to stay in operations through the holidays, during which it will seek a buyer.

 That buyer could include its CEO, Eddie Lampert, or others that wish to make a higher bid.

The retailer has secured roughly $500 million to support its holiday operations, the people said. As of Sunday evening, negotiations were ongoing, two of the people said.

The people, who requested anonymity because the information is confidential, cautioned no plan is definite until the retailer formally submits its bankruptcy paperwork. Sears did not immediately respond to comment.

Sears has a $134 million debt payment due Monday it will not meet.

The retailer's last profitable year was in 2010. 
It rang up less than $17 billion in sales in fiscal 2017, half of the roughly $40 billion in revenue it brought in five years earlier, according to FactSet.

Sears wasn't immediately available for comment.

Sears Hires Advisers to Prepare Bankruptcy Filing
[color=rgba(27, 27, 27, 0.65098)]Troubled retailer working with boutique firm M-III Partners and could file for court protection ahead of Monday debt payment[/color]
By 
Suzanne Kapner, 
Lillian Rizzo and 
Soma Biswas

Updated Oct. 9, 2018 10:51 p.m. ET

[color=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65098)][img=736x0]https://images.wsj.net/im-30164?width=620&aspect_ratio=1.5[/img][/color]

Remembering Sears: What’s your most notable memory? Tell us about it.

Sears, which has been losing money for years, has $134 million in debt due on Monday. Edward Lampert, the hedge-fund manager who is Sears’s chairman, chief executive, largest shareholder and biggest creditor, could rescue the company, as he has done in the past by making the payment. 

But Mr. Lampert is pushing for a broader restructuring that would include shaving more than $1 billion from Sears’s $5.5 billion debt load, selling another $1.5 billion of real estate and divesting $1.75 billion of assets, including the Kenmore appliance brand, which he has offered $400 million to buy himself. 

The company’s poor financial performance has made it difficult to get support from lenders for the plan, one of the people said. Mr. Lampert hopes to shrink Sears back to profitability, this person said. 

The company has already closed hundreds of stores in recent years. 
Closing Up Shop

Over the last decade, the company has closed two-thirds of its Kmart locations andone-third of its Sears department stores.Source: the companyNote: Excludes Sears auto centers, specialty stores.

Sears full-line storesKmart 

stores2006’07’08’09’10’11’12’13’14’15’16’17’1802505007501,0001,2501,5001,7502,0002,2502,500

Sears has more than $11 billion in cumulative losses since 2011, and its annual sales have dropped nearly 60% in that period to $16.7 billion. Analysts say it needs to raise more than $1 billion a year to stay afloat. 

Mr. Lampert has also sought advice from consulting firm AlixPartners; lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; and investment bank Lazard Ltd., as he tried to keep the company afloat and restructure out of bankruptcy court, the people said.
Shrinking SearsSears was struggling before merging with Kmart, but its revenue has worsenedunder CEO Eddie Lampert.Annual revenueSource: Thomson ReutersNote: Figures are not adjusted for inflation
.billionMerger with Kmart closes1985’90’952000’05’10’1501020304050$60

On Tuesday, Sears added restructuring expert Alan Carr as a director, expanding the six-person board to seven. Mr. Carr runs a restructuring advisory firm and previously worked as a restructuring lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He has also served on the board of companies—including wireless-networking business LightSquared Inc. and guitar maker Gibson Brands Inc.—that have recently navigated the bankruptcy process.
Once hailed as a genius investor for smart bets he made on AutoZone andAutoNation , Mr. Lampert met his match in Sears, Roebuck & Co. The retailer was struggling before he combined it with Kmart, which he rescued from bankruptcy, to create Sears Holdings Corp. in 2005.

He moved quickly to cut expenses and close unprofitable stores. But the business worsened coming out of the recession, as more purchases were made online and rivals such as Walmart Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. grew stronger. The company wasn’t helped by Mr. Lampert’s unconventional approach to retailing. He resisted investing in store upgrades and, after becoming CEO in 2013, managed the company from Florida, according to people familiar with the situation.

Mr. Lampert wants to restructure Sears’s debt without filing for bankruptcy protection, because he views bankruptcy as risky for retailers, according to a person familiar with his thinking. 

Retailers often enter bankruptcy with the hope of restructuring but wind up liquidating instead, as was the case this year with Toys “R” Us Inc., this person said.

Mr. Lampert, whose hedge fund ESL Investments Inc. owns a majority of Sears shares, also believes the company can get more value for its assets by selling them while it is a going concern, this person added.

Critics have accused Mr. Lampert of stripping assets from the beleaguered company. The person familiar with Mr. Lampert’s thinking said he has been selling assets to give Sears the cash it needs to stay in business.

A Long SlumpMonthly share price for Sears HoldingsSource: SIX
2010’12’14’16’180102030405060$70


While M-III Partners itself is relatively new to the restructuring industry, its founder, Mohsin Meghji, is considered a turnaround expert. The former Arthur Andersen consultant and co-founder of another boutique advisory firm has been working on restructurings for nearly 30 years. 

Sears, which still has nearly 900 stores, would be M-III’s biggest assignment. It recently served as chief restructuring officer of Real Alloy, an aluminum recycling company that sought bankruptcy protection in 2017. 

Shares of Sears, which traded as high as $144 over a decade ago, closed Tuesday at 59 cents, a sign that investors are bracing for a potential bankruptcy filing or restructuring. 
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#2
Sad news. Sears was my first after school job. Two other big stores that have been a staples on 5th ave, are also closing before the end of the year.
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#3
Very sad, times are changing... Toys R Us, everything is shutting down due to big box stores and online shopping.
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#4
Sears, Kmart, JC Penny. Sad! The old days, sigh. Pretty soon, as soon as babies are born, the first thing they'll get is a cellphone, or computer. Forget playing!
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#5
This is very sad. Although it’s strange some commercial real estate remains valuable, while others are biting the big one. And yes location is key but it’s also strange and someways. I am not a conspiracy theory rest but I do think certain businesses get preferential treatment.
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