In an article for USA Today on April 24, 2018, Lori Vaughan provided insight on a recent proposal by Sears CEO Edward Lampert to acquire Sears’ lucrative Kenmore brand through his hedge fund in an effort to help the company’s lagging sales.
While money made from the sale of Kenmore could be invested in Sears department stores, it may not be enough to fix the major issues at hand given the plethora of recent retail bankruptcies. “They would need a very aggressive and creative plan to save their stores in this market,” explained Vaughan. “Sears seems to be trying to rebrand itself as an appliance, tool and mattress store. It’s unclear how the sale of Kenmore would affect this effort.”
Vaughan expressed that if Sears joins other retailers who have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past year, its network of stores may attract interest from outside buyers. “I think there’s still a market for the stores,” noted Vaughan. “The trick is, is someone going to come in and buy all of Sears’ stores?… That’s really unlikely.”
Though if a sale did come through, it would come in the form of “small deals, (and) one-off sales,” which “takes more time and effort,” explained Vaughan. It has yet to be seen whether Sears will move forward with its CEO’s offer to buy Kenmore, and if so, what the fallout would be for the company.
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