Friday, November 16, 2012

Three Hundred Million Square Feet



Three hundred million square feet of retail space.  That's how much Sears Holdings has.  And this is what MarketWatch says they've done with it:



Sears Holdings Corp.'s fiscal third-quarter loss widened as the retailer's same-store sales continued to weaken and as a tax-benefit helped year-ago results, though its operating costs declined in the latest period.

The company, which has been struggling for years to turn around its operations, has tried to draw in customers with more appealing stores and endeavors like a loyalty program. But gains from asset sales have helped Sears post improved bottom-line results lately.
...
A weak economy has also hurt demand for the retailer lately. In the latest period, overall domestic same-store sales declined 3.1%. Same-store sales slipped 1.6% at the Sears chain and fell 4.8% at sister discounter Kmart. Sears Canada's same-store sales decreased 5.7%.

Three hundred million square feet of retail space.  None of it necessary.  CRE dodged much of the RRE bullet but this is the mother of all bullets and it is cocked in the chamber.  

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, this is the Secret Forum?

Cinco-X said...

Eric,
Yes..yes it is...and it's good to see you again.

As for the square footage, I see there's about 1 sqft per US citizen...Given the size of the average 'Merican, that's not a lot, though based on Sears sales, it's doubtful very many 'Mericans are in a Sears at any given moment...

Rob Dawg said...

Sears Holdings is Sears and KMart. Sears got squeezed from both ends, the Internet and predation of the more profitable of its specialties. KMart is just crap and got out crapped by Walmart.

I'm feeling much better after sleeping most of the past 48 hours. I'll get into the office and add some pictures of Zayre's, Caldor, Bradlee's, Filene's, etc., to this post.

Hey Cinco, is Spags still as great as ever?

Welcome Eric! I'll talk to the concierge about getting you a better parking spot in the covered part nearer the entrance. I can see why you wouldn't want to turn the keys to such a fine ride over even our fine valets. Should be taken care of by the time you get your retinal scan input for sauna access.

Rob Dawg said...

So. I just peeked in on HCN. Now I have to look into adding icons here so I can use a Picard Facepalm. 150 posts about industrial production and maybe 4 with any content on topic. Not 10 with actual content of any type.

And CR is still thinking in the 20th century. Capacity utilization today is nothing like 1967. In 67 the assembly line could only run so fast. Today capacity is demand constrained. If needed production could be ramped up way above what he thinks is 100% if demand were there.

Unknown said...

Congratulations on the sleep. Yes, HCN has had an increase in noise to signal, many of the adults have left. Last night duke and yogi tried to provoke me, then piled on Lawyer Liz for a while. It gets boring.

Rob Dawg said...

I wonder how many malls would fold if they lost their Sears anchor? I believe the technical measure is craptons.

Lots of uses for some of the older freestanding buildings. Particularly those old enough to have rail access. I'd start a synthetic sheet building materials plant but... As much as it would be good jobs and solid taxes there's no place that would stand for the smells or noise or... Zoning issues. Maybe a small town Midwest? Somebody tickle dryfly and see if he knows.

TJandTheBear said...

Rob,

All you need to do to attract skk is put up more cheesecake. ;-)

SH is a good poster child for totally overbuilt retail CRE. We could shrink by 75% and still have plenty.

BTW, did you see that Ikea's going to build a new 470,000sf facility in Burbank?

JP said...

For a secret forum, you guys sure are loud.

ObOnTopic: I was in the SM Sears noticing what a fish out of water it is. I'm guessing they have to own the space, because they are a low-budget store in an incredibly high-rent district (next to SM Place). I'm wondering how sizeable their owned RE is. Anyone already checked?

Rob Dawg said...

Santa monica Sears is worth billions and they know it. It is kept open to prevent the city from trying to steal it. Love the art deco architecture.

As to owned v leased it gets real complicated.

http://www.shcrealty.com/

They Lease to themselves, they lease to owners of the store, they own outright, they have pledged some of that against debt...

Short answer a lot more than the value on the books and that is a lot itself.

Cinco-X said...

Dawg said: "Hey Cinco, is Spags still as great as ever?"


I remember Spags...it was pretty kewl, but it's been gone so long I'd almost forgot about it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spag%27s
"Spag's was, from 1934 to 2004, a discount department store on Route 9 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The store was considered an early pioneer of discount retailing and was notable for its longtime resistance to accepting charge cards (until 1992)[1] and offering plastic shopping bags (late 1996)[2] and shopping carts (introduced in 1998).[3]"