Sears

Sears is a chain of department stores. Sears was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1866. Sears merged with Kmart in 2005.

History
Sears was founded by Sears as a catalogue business. After Sears saw a sucess with the catalogues, he founded the Sears department chain in 1925. After that, Sears expanded to greater heights. In the 30s, they founded Kenmore and Craftsman, along with Allstate. In the 1950s, Sears started the Homart Development Company, which built malls. Sears had become the largest retailer, loved for its design. They later purchased Dean Witter and Coldwell Banker. In 1985, Sears started the Discover card. Unfortunately, the chain had lost their customers in the 90s. Walmart surpassed them as the number one retailer in 1992. Sears spun off everything that did not have to do with retailing. However, they purchased Orchard Supply and started The Great Indoors.

Sears-Kmart Merger
In the early 2000s, Sears had been doing bad, as well as future sister chain Kmart. Kmart went bankrupt in 2004, so Edward Lampert bought Kmart and Sears and merged them. However, sales have dropped, specifically after the merger. Sears, as reported by the Chicago Sun Times, was planning to buy Gap, Safeway, and others. So far the future of Sears is not known.

Store Concepts

 * Sears - department store
 * Sears Essentials - discount store
 * Sears Grand - hypermarket
 * Sears Outlet - outlet store
 * The Great Indoors - home decor store
 * Sears Hometown Store - small department store
 * Sears Appliance & Hardware - hardware store
 * Sears Home Appliance Showroom - appliance store
 * Orchard Supply Hardware - hardware store