Last Thursday we made a stop at a south Calgary shopping centre on our way home to Creston, and I used my time to wander around Sears, that being the first day of a closeout sale that will wind down one of the dreariest economic stories in recent Canadian history.
Everything in the store was marked down by 20 per cent, and I was astonished to see lineups grow longer as more and more shoppers arrived to pick up “bargains”. I roamed about, stopping almost subconsciously to open (and quickly close) the door of a premium brand all-stainless steel dishwasher. Ours works just fine and I couldn’t really say why I opened it. I was not shopping, just killing time. Seconds later a shopper tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I saw you looking at that dishwasher and I just want to tell you I bought exactly that model at Trail Appliances a couple of months ago for $900.” The tag on the item in question said “Clearance: $1,150.”
I said thanks and that I wasn’t really looking. “But I am surprised to find people buying goods at 20 per cent off because you have to be a pretty lousy shopper not to find a better deal than that,” I added. She agreed.
Our family often shopped at one of the two Simpson-Sears stores in Calgary when I was a kid, and Sears was the supplier of my first ever credit card. As a university student, a number of my friends worked part-time at the North Hill Shopping Centre Simpson-Sears. I even bowled in the store’s 5-pin league. One close friend was peeved when I said I had a Sears charge card. “You don’t even have a job,” he said. “I work there part-time on evenings and weekends and I was turned down when I applied.”
Part of the appeal of shopping at Sears over the years was the appliance department (probably why I ended up looking at a dishwasher), because Kenmore was a reasonably priced and reliable brand name. Of course, I eventually learned that there is only one (I exaggerate, but not by much) maker of household appliances on the planet, and it makes all the various brands. So much for brand loyalty.
While we don’t often get to the north side of Calgary any more we have dropped in to that same North Hill location over the years, and seen it decline steadily. The coat of paint did little to hide the fact that Sears was not a retailer on the rise. It seems ironic that one of the icons of the old and vital department store catalogue industry proved to be completely clueless when it came to competing in the modern on-line shopping world. In the end, desperation could have become the company’s new motto. It brought in a new president whom detractors said was there to maximize Sears’ (and his own) profits from the sell off of its real estate holdings, an accusation that was fiercely denied right until the closure of all stores was announced.
I’m not about to get all weepy about the loss of the retail chain that got more of our money over the years than any other (most of our current appliances, as well as TV and DVD player were bought here in town). Times change and Sears couldn’t. Que sera, sera. But I do wonder where replacement jobs will come from, especially in a time when robotics and automation are pushing people out of work in astonishing numbers. Anyone want to bet on how long it will take before the semis that dominate our highways no longer have humans behind the wheel?
Governments at all levels seem to have no interest in talking about the future of the work, perhaps because they feel helpless to do anything. More’s the pity.
