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Almost-West Seattle scene: Last sign of the Sears sign

December 31, 2014 11:28 am
|      14 COMMENTS
 |   Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway | West Seattle news

11:28 AM: Thanks to Bill Schrier for spotting and sharing this while visiting SODO – the sign for the shuttered, historic Sears store is coming down. “Kind of a nostalgic end of a historic brand in SODO for the last day of 2014,” he observes. We noted the store’s closure announcement last February, primarily because it meant the Rotary Club of West Seattle would have to find someplace new for its annual Children’s Holiday Shopping Spree. (Ultimately, it moved to the Sears store at Southcenter.) As for the fate of the sign and the question of whether anyone’s leased the space yet – we don’t know but are trying to find out. (This might suggest the answer to the latter, at least, is “no.”)

ADDED 12:44 PM: According to the company that owns the building, no new tenant yet, as the Sears lease runs another year.

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14 Replies to "Almost-West Seattle scene: Last sign of the Sears sign"

  • dsa December 31, 2014 (1:32 pm)

    I wonder how much the lease cost Sears for the building. They seem to think it was cheaper to cut their losses to pay the lease for another year and close the store, rather than pay employees and stock products.
    .
    Or they gambled that someone would assume the lease and save their hide.

  • Jen December 31, 2014 (1:39 pm)

    How long has Sears been there?

  • cjp December 31, 2014 (4:16 pm)

    ‘seem to think its cheaper’? They’re a multinational company thats been around for decades, not some kid with an etsy strore that doesn’t know what they’re doing. I’m sure they /know/ down to the dollar, that its cheaper to pay the last years lease alone, vs the last years lease, plus wages, overhead, fuel costs, utilities, shipping and freight, administrative fees, credit card processing fees, 401k, health insurance, etc.

    You don’t run a business like that on ‘seem to think’. You know what it costs to run, and how much it makes. They wouldn’t be closing it if it made enough money to be worth it. Its math.

  • Cheo December 31, 2014 (5:29 pm)

    I don’t think it’s the least bit unfair to question Sears’ business acumen, when their stores are failing all over the country. They clearly have somewhat less than a full clue as to how to run their own business.

  • Bill December 31, 2014 (5:30 pm)

    Jen — Over a hundred years! — the whole building complex there was originally built by and for Sears – from the early 1900’s — and added on over the years — back in the 1950’s and 1960’s that whole building complex was Sears and Sears warehouse and catalog store. The auto center was over where the Home Depot is now!

  • David December 31, 2014 (6:30 pm)

    Sears is/was a wonderful old company, but sometimes they fail, because of bad “current” management or just changing market forces. I was just remembering the old Keokuk Iowa mall (my old home town) it used to have a Woolworths (gone) and Montgomery Wards (gone). Those were both OLD long established companies who died even before the current trend of internet/online shopping (which can be blamed for some of current box store trouibles). JC Penny’s isn’t in great shape either. K-Mart is barely hanging on. So not sure how much to blame Sears per se or just changing market/tastes.

  • G December 31, 2014 (6:52 pm)

    Old Sears, brings back memories of going down there with my parents as a kid and staring at the mouthwatering confectionary counter on the 1st floor. Then out to watch the trains from the bridge across the tracks.

  • dsa December 31, 2014 (8:10 pm)

    I’m really sorry to see it gone, but I lost most of my interest in going there long ago. It was when they closed the south entrance to the store which also had the garden center.

  • Mike December 31, 2014 (11:09 pm)

    Sears was a dead duck when the Craftsman brand was abused and quality tanked to ‘cut costs’. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/07/is-it-time-for-sears-to-sell-craftsman.aspx
    .
    Snap-on destroyed Craftsman. It’s not like they didn’t have time to correct the brand within Sears, they were just dumb.

  • Bryan January 1, 2015 (10:58 am)

    I’ll be missing the SODO Sears, always caught my eye when driving by. Me too, didn’t always go in, just once in a while. Well, guys, it might seem impossible, but what would you think of Penney’s moving in Sears’ old space? Would you go there or do you have another suggestion? Sears and Penney’s are just like sisters, actually.

  • Ken Ahroni January 2, 2015 (8:34 am)

    I sued Sears for copyright infringement and fought a lengthy federal court legal battle in which my small company won a unanimous jury verdict. Sears then filed an appeal which lasted another 2 years. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the District Court ruling and my company ultimately prevailed. I couldn’t be happier to see the sign go. A reminder to me of a corrupt company that thought it could play by its own rules.

  • LAUGHS January 3, 2015 (8:10 am)

    I am vested in this rotton Eddie Lampert self centerd ugly business. Every memory I ever had with my Grand mother as a child at Sears has turned into sorrow, loss of retirement, homelessness!! (Seriously, If I did not have children, I would likely be in the streets!!) After vesting my savings of well over $200,000.00, I now find myself living with my children…broke and recovering. They squander millions and crap on their people, unless you happen to be management or more specific upper… I loathe the people behind Sears today. It’s real sad, this was not the founders dream. – And what a bunch of dumb A$$es… Sears used to own a % of Builders Square…and they bowed down to Home Depot!! A true visionary would not have EVER done that! Sears loses a bunch of business to HD and Lowes…. Sears Boasts KENMORE…. Kenmore is made by multiple factories, not theirs… Some consumers will come in our store…. “I hate Frigidaire!! Aint buying one!! I love Kenmore, I want Kenmore….” Then they will buy one and I will load their Frigidaire made Stove with a Kenmore Label into their truck….Enjoy…. And you know what? They (Most Customers) will probably never know the differance… Who makes anything these days anyways?
    Sears is organized disfunction!! Some of these leaders will have to answer to God one of these days. I’d hate to be in their shoes… Move ove Ken Ley!!!

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