Sears 'n' malls

Sayonara Sears.
Sayonara malls.

To say that Sears is a household name in US retail is an understatement.

The 130-year-old company operates one of America's best-known department store brands, Sears, Roebuck & Company, along with the ubiquitous Kmart chain, and was America's largest retail company until 1989.
But the firm has recently found itself in a crisis as it struggles to turn a profit as Americans increasingly shop online rather than in shopping centres.
In January, the company behind the group said it was selling off a major subsidiary and shutting more than 100 stores in an attempt to bolster its finances.
Some analysts believe that, short of a miracle, Sears Holdings will go under within the next few years.

With Sears as a pillar of shopping-mall stability, it is hard not to imagine that malls, the port of call of young people across the U.S., will/must likewise drift to the seabed where Atlantis rests. A 'cultural icon' destined for evaporation, and with it, the personality traits of hundreds of thousands of struggling, personality-seeking, get-laid-longing youngsters.