The 79th Street Sears, Soon to Close
1334 E. 79th St., an address that will soon cease to exist as a retail destination.
As long as I can remember, this Sears was on a triangular lot bounded by 79th Street, the Chicago Skyway, and Kenwood Ave. Along with its sister stores at 63rd and Halsted, 61st and Western, and just outside the Loop at Congress and State, it was a destination for south-side middle-class families, both for back-to-school, Christmas and Easter clothes, toys, appliances, and that all-important first bicycle, as well as the place to pick up catalog orders, back when Sears Wish Book had EVERYTHING.
Failure to adapt to stiff competition from Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls and Home Depot hastened Sears' downfall. Their leaving a paid-up, centrally-located headquarters building (Sears Tower) for a remote Hoffman Estates campus should be a case study in business schools forever more.
In the short term, though, closing their last two south-side Chicago stores may look good on their quarterly spreadsheet, but in the long run? If Sears management think south-side Chicago families are going to "run out" to Chicago Ridge or River Oaks after getting home from work, they've been smoking that high-grade medicinal marijuana.
The 79th Street Sears, Soon to Close
1334 E. 79th St., an address that will soon cease to exist as a retail destination.
As long as I can remember, this Sears was on a triangular lot bounded by 79th Street, the Chicago Skyway, and Kenwood Ave. Along with its sister stores at 63rd and Halsted, 61st and Western, and just outside the Loop at Congress and State, it was a destination for south-side middle-class families, both for back-to-school, Christmas and Easter clothes, toys, appliances, and that all-important first bicycle, as well as the place to pick up catalog orders, back when Sears Wish Book had EVERYTHING.
Failure to adapt to stiff competition from Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls and Home Depot hastened Sears' downfall. Their leaving a paid-up, centrally-located headquarters building (Sears Tower) for a remote Hoffman Estates campus should be a case study in business schools forever more.
In the short term, though, closing their last two south-side Chicago stores may look good on their quarterly spreadsheet, but in the long run? If Sears management think south-side Chicago families are going to "run out" to Chicago Ridge or River Oaks after getting home from work, they've been smoking that high-grade medicinal marijuana.