US retail giant Sears files for bankruptcy

[Berlin Expat]

3. Same here when I was growing up

as a kid in the 1970's. Fridge, washer, dryer, lawnmower, power tools and hand tools. Hell, I think my first tie as a little kid came from Sears.

But times change, of course. And sadly Sears management - both past and present - failed to take heed of changes in consumer behavior over the decades. The rise of internet shopping certainly has a part to play, but Americans aren't going to suburban shopping malls like they used to in their heyday of the 1980's.

There's a series on YouTube, "Dead Malls", they I view from time to time; as a TEFL teacher, I also use that series with a group of students I have that are shopping center managers.....specifically, what not to do. Shopping malls are still thriving here in Czech Republic - it's almost like the 1980's or early 90s in terms of people going to the mall to shop and socialize - but online shopping is slowly increasing here too. And that sort of tells me that what we're seeing with the "retail apocalypse" in the US will almost certainly and inevitably make its way here.