The Wall Street Journal-20080130-We-ve Heard This Before- Sears Turns Around Again

Return to: The_Wall_Street_Journal-20080130

We've Heard This Before; Sears Turns Around Again

Full Text (253  words)

Haven't we seen it all before: A turnaround is planned at Sears ("Flagging Sears Plans Shakeup in Latest Bid at Turnaround," page one, Jan. 19). Everyone in the company knows that turnaround or reorganization or restructuring or radical makeover or new outlook means that a bunch of people get laid off and those remaining have to pick up their duties for no additional money. That is really demoralizing. The chairman, who never shows his face on the sales floor and doesn't know the first name of his best stock man in any store, keeps his salary and his bonus. That is also demoralizing.

In the old days a store owner knew he needed a certain amount of people to make it all work. If business took a drop, he kept his staff and took the hit. He knew it would turn around and that he'd need his experienced people. Today, the staff gets cut and the owners are untouched. Owners also knew what merchandise they didn't need and sometimes which stores they didn't need. Today, accountants run things and employees are the biggest financial burden.

The entire country is over-retailed. Sears needs to cut a new path. Some of that new path is the old, honorable way. A successful retail operation has enough knowledgeable people talking to customers so the customers are willing to spend their money, for which the knowledgeable people get rewarded. Sears doesn't have that. Financial fixes be damned. Get back to retail basics.

Raymond E. Williams

East Brunswick, N.J.