Bob Ulrich

Editor

Bob Ulrich was named Modern Tire Dealer editor in August 2000. He joined the magazine in 1985 as assistant editor, and has been responsible for gathering statistical information for MTD's "Facts Issue" since 1993. He has won numerous awards for editorial and feature writing, including five gold medals from the International Automotive Media Association. Bob earned a B.A. in English literature from Ohio Northern University and has a law degree from the University of Akron.

» More

Sears Auto Centers may be in a state of flux

By: Bob Ulrich

The big aftermarket news over the holiday is that Sears Holdings Corp. has announced it is closing 100 to 120 Kmart and Sears full-line stores. How many of the 837 Sears Auto Centers is unknown at this point.

I do know two things, however.

1. Sears is not having a good year. For the first three quarters of fiscal 2011, overall revenues are down, and the company has lost money. Net sales at Sears have dropped each of the last five years

During the third quarter alone, Sears recorded a net loss of $241 million on revenues of nearly $30.2 billion. The decline in total revenue for the quarter was primarily a result of a 0.8% decrease in domestic comparable store sales.

2. Mass merchandisers lost ground in the retail tire market in 2011, according to preliminary results from the 2012 Modern Tire Dealer Facts Issue.

There are 768 Sears Auto Centers operating in association with full-line Sears stores; plus 19 Sears Auto Centers operating out of Sears Essentials/Grand stores, plus 20 Sears Auto Centers operating in Kmart stores; plus 30 free standing Sears Auto Centers.

To see the list of announced store closings, click here.

Sears soon will carry Radar brand tires at the outlets that remain open. The deal between Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Omni United Pte. Ltd. also will allow Sears to sell Radar tires online.

Will there be even more closings? Here is what Sears says: "We will carefully evaluate store performance going forward and act opportunistically to recognize value from poor performing stores as circumstances allow.

"While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment.  We intend to accentuate our focus and resources to our better performing stores with the goal of converting their customer experience into a world-class integrated retail experience."

No where in the release, by the way, does it mention opening any more stores.

Related Topics: Facts Issue, Mass merchandisers, Sears Auto Centers

comments

1. Angelo | December 29, 2011 at 08:25PM
   I for one will not like to see more Sears tire outlets go by the way of NTB's, Western Auto's and the like..I've always liked Sears and really did like being a manager of a Western Auto Store and an ad manager for them here in my district.. To bad American companies who get to used of paying out such large amounts of money to the top people who do nothing and then let the money making people and the stores go by the wayside by closeing stores instead of making them profitable again by letting the workers run them..

2. JK | December 30, 2011 at 04:43PM
   Great article and information provided. I would like to see some forecast on, when or if, Sears Auto Centers close, do you believe the auto center arm of Sears will be sold as a lot -- for the free-standing centers, not in-house centers -- or sold individually? Being a independent auto service owner, adding more locations already established would be a very nice move.