Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Sears faced a deadline for payment of $134 million on its debt but didn't have the money so filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors.

Sears will be a much-diminished company. From more than 4,000 stores as recently as 2011, it now has about 700. It will close 142 more stores by year's end, leaving it a remnant of its former self. Already shorn of its Craftsman tools brand and looking for a buyer for its Kenmore appliances unit, there's little left now but a famous name with few assets other than semi-empty stores and real estate.

How odd. Sears built their business on mail order through catalogs going thirty years before opening their first brick and mortar store. And now they're overtaken by more agile businesses likewise built upon online ordering who are now opening stores. And buying other businesses like inhaling while all that is secondary to building rockets and planning humanity's future in space.

I almost miss them.

My parents used them a lot.

Yeow yikes.

I just now experienced a flood of Sears-related scenes brought up in overlapped series; opening large boxes to an entire season wardrobes for all five kids, the feel of that place, its essence, it's light, fishing rods and tackle boxes filled with hundreds of lures, the curiosity of exploring their contents, fish line and hooks, spinners, bamboo poles and multiple piece rods, scaling knife, sinkers, red and white bobbers, rubber worms, pliers, line cutter, first aid kit, booklet, going into a Sear's store in Allentown and again in Shreveport,  Kenmore washer and dryer, Dad buying tires and discussions with their mechanics, buying tools, being fitted for shoes. What a rush.

That shoe one in particular is strangely frustrating. I honestly could not tell if shoes fit. I could not answer that question. They measured, isn't that enough? This was a repeated problem across seasons.  I had no idea how to tell if anything fit; neck, arms, legs, crotch, feet, waist, butt, torso. "Walk around and tell us if the shoes fit." I walk around and still couldn't tell. Buy the shoes, and they don't really fit. Too tight at first then too loose later. How is a boy to predict that? None of my clothes ever fit. I was never comfortable in clothes. Never. They were either too large or they pinched in places uncomfortably. All day long I squirmed uncomfortably in ill-fitting clothes. I had no idea what clothes were supposed to feel like. All that I knew was that I was uncomfortable in everything always.  I was a dumb little kid and I could not connect my thinking with how things felt on my body far less what they were supposed to feel like nor what specifically was wrong, nor what to do about that when picking out new clothes. I did not have the mind for it.

It's a boy thing.

This time last year I could see that the black leather shoes the boys wore with their little tuxedos were too long for their feet. I asked both of them outside the little church, "Are your shoes too big for you?" Neither boy could answer. The question simply did not compute. They couldn't connect their brains to what their feet were feeling if anything. It was not possible for them to say one way or another. But between the church and the reception their black leather shoes were switched for their trainers.

Poor Sears. It's a bit like a funeral for a great-great-great grandfather. Like the death of a pharaoh such as Ramses II who was king before most people's grandfather was born. Their history is fascinating. Here is a truly impressive case study in the life cycle of an iconic American business.

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