American retailer Sears - once America's largest - has filed for bankruptcy after 132 years in business.
It's a casualty of America's shifting shopping habits. But the department store's decline now threatens America's shopping centers - the ubiquitous malls - which have been struggling for several years.
Nick Harper reports from New York.
IN: Singing - "There's.."
OUT: "...where America Shops."
DUR: 3"24
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SABC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-sabc.mp3
PKG
- singing "There's more for your life at Sears, in store for you…"
TAKE VO
For more than 130 years Sears was THE American department store.
- "We're at a Sears store to find out why Sears is where America shops." "It's easy for me - I can pick up tennis balls, children's clothing, a torque wrench and a dish all in the same shop."
TAKE VO
As that 1970s commercial showed Sears branded itself as the place to get anything and everything - the all-in-one store for America's growing middle class.
SOT - "It's a store that really in many ways has been in decline for a long, long time."
TAKE VO
Steven Blitz is the Chief US Economist for TS Lombard.
SOT - "It's just lost its way. And to blame it solely on technology - if Amazon didn't exist the fate would have been the same. A name alone is not going to carry you through if you don't continually innovate and just stay at that cutting edge."
TAKE VO
The reasons for Sears' decline are numerous. It failed to embrace online shopping in an age of e-commerce.
Its profits were hit by the rise of discounters like Walmart and Target.
The company suffered many years of alleged financial mismanagement.
But in many ways America's shopping habits have simply changed.
Here's Chief Economist at The Phoenix Group, Max Wolff.
SOT - "They were a product of the great American middle class and the consumption boom of the American middle class - but the great American middle class, the suburban middle class has also had a rough 30 or 40 years - to be fair to Sears they were selling to a dying breed."
TAKE VO
American shoppers have for some time been moving away from department store-dominated shopping centers.
But many of Sears' remaining 500 plus outlets are the anchor stores in those very malls.
The fear is if they close, millions of empty square meters of space will suddenly hasten the decline of the sprawling suburban shopping complexes.
But Wolff doesn't hear a death rattle just yet.
SOT - "So I think the mall's changing rather than it's just dying. I don't think it has the vitality and growth that it once did. But I think the reports of the death of the mall are a bit overdone. I think shopping as a run American pastime hasn't been passed done to the millennial generation, or the Gen-Z generation below Millennial generation, in the same way partly because they're less wealthy."
TAKE VO
Popular retailers like Apple and Zara are filling units.
And malls are also adding amenities to try entice shoppers back.
The number of gyms has doubled in the last five years.
And some malls have installed 'instagramable' booths and experiences to make shopping stand out.
Here's Steven Blitz again.
SOT - "In this day and age a store has to be a show, it has to be an event, there has to be a reason to go there. If all you're doing is selling a utility product well Amazon fills the utility."
TAKE VO
But the dominance of online shopping shouldn't be overstated, considering even Amazon is opening brick-and-mortar locations with bookshops and cashier-less grocery stores.
At its heart Sears' decline is perhaps a lesson that retailers need to change before their customers checkout - for good.
SOC
singing - "Sears - where America Shops."
ENDS
It's a casualty of America's shifting shopping habits. But the department store's decline now threatens America's shopping centers - the ubiquitous malls - which have been struggling for several years.
Nick Harper reports from New York.
IN: Singing - "There's.."
OUT: "...where America Shops."
DUR: 3"24
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-arn.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-fm4.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-gen.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-von.mp3
938LIVE: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-938.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-ziz.mp3
SABC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1022sears-malls-nh-sabc.mp3
PKG
- singing "There's more for your life at Sears, in store for you…"
TAKE VO
For more than 130 years Sears was THE American department store.
- "We're at a Sears store to find out why Sears is where America shops." "It's easy for me - I can pick up tennis balls, children's clothing, a torque wrench and a dish all in the same shop."
TAKE VO
As that 1970s commercial showed Sears branded itself as the place to get anything and everything - the all-in-one store for America's growing middle class.
SOT - "It's a store that really in many ways has been in decline for a long, long time."
TAKE VO
Steven Blitz is the Chief US Economist for TS Lombard.
SOT - "It's just lost its way. And to blame it solely on technology - if Amazon didn't exist the fate would have been the same. A name alone is not going to carry you through if you don't continually innovate and just stay at that cutting edge."
TAKE VO
The reasons for Sears' decline are numerous. It failed to embrace online shopping in an age of e-commerce.
Its profits were hit by the rise of discounters like Walmart and Target.
The company suffered many years of alleged financial mismanagement.
But in many ways America's shopping habits have simply changed.
Here's Chief Economist at The Phoenix Group, Max Wolff.
SOT - "They were a product of the great American middle class and the consumption boom of the American middle class - but the great American middle class, the suburban middle class has also had a rough 30 or 40 years - to be fair to Sears they were selling to a dying breed."
TAKE VO
American shoppers have for some time been moving away from department store-dominated shopping centers.
But many of Sears' remaining 500 plus outlets are the anchor stores in those very malls.
The fear is if they close, millions of empty square meters of space will suddenly hasten the decline of the sprawling suburban shopping complexes.
But Wolff doesn't hear a death rattle just yet.
SOT - "So I think the mall's changing rather than it's just dying. I don't think it has the vitality and growth that it once did. But I think the reports of the death of the mall are a bit overdone. I think shopping as a run American pastime hasn't been passed done to the millennial generation, or the Gen-Z generation below Millennial generation, in the same way partly because they're less wealthy."
TAKE VO
Popular retailers like Apple and Zara are filling units.
And malls are also adding amenities to try entice shoppers back.
The number of gyms has doubled in the last five years.
And some malls have installed 'instagramable' booths and experiences to make shopping stand out.
Here's Steven Blitz again.
SOT - "In this day and age a store has to be a show, it has to be an event, there has to be a reason to go there. If all you're doing is selling a utility product well Amazon fills the utility."
TAKE VO
But the dominance of online shopping shouldn't be overstated, considering even Amazon is opening brick-and-mortar locations with bookshops and cashier-less grocery stores.
At its heart Sears' decline is perhaps a lesson that retailers need to change before their customers checkout - for good.
SOC
singing - "Sears - where America Shops."
ENDS