Sears Holdings: Happy Anniversary To Us! by Sears Holdings – presented without comment, but we hope Eddie has more substantive ideas for turning around the ompany…
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the formation of Sears. The company is in the midst of transforming from a company focused on simply selling products through a traditional network of stores into a more asset-lite, member-centric integrated retailer. Since Sears and Kmart merged in 2005, Sears Holdings has been a leader in innovation and creating member-focused value adds for the tens of millions of Shop Your Way members. It is this pioneering spirit that defines where we’ve been, who we are and where we are going.
The journey of becoming the leading integrated retailer in America is the next chapter in our story. We continue to develop new and unique integrated offerings to help our members shop the way they want to shop. To serve the changing needs of our members, we’ve continually reimagined what’s possible and reinvented ourselves to make it a reality. As always, we plan to keep placing our members first just as we’ve done throughout our history.
Did you know?
- When S.S. Kresge opened his first store in 1899, he sold everything for 5 and 10 cents. The low prices appealed to shoppers and allowed him to expand to 85 stores in 1912, with annual sales of more than $10 million
- From 1908–1940, Sears sold about 70,000 to 75,000 homes through its mail-order Modern Homes program
- Sears hit the airwaves in the 1920s with its own radio station WLS (World’s Largest Store), which broadcasted farm and weather reports, music, tips for housewives and evening entertainment
- In 1937 S.S. Kresge (the founder of what we now know as Kmart) opened a store in the country’s first suburban shopping center — Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri
- Sears sold dogs, ponies, alligators, swans, monkeys, birds, hamsters, tropical fish, rabbits and much more through the Sears catalogs
- The original color of the “Bluelight Special” at Kmart was red
- Former U.S. President George W. Bush, singers Salt & Pepa and comedian Jim Breuer worked at a Sears store before becoming well known
- Sears founded Discover Card in 1985
- Allstate Insurance was named after Sears’ tire brand sold in the Sears catalog and in stores and was owned by Sears until 1993
- The Kenmore brand was named after a street in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood
Check out searsarchives.com for more information on our history and interesting facts about our company.
