Richard Sears

Richard Sears, a full time employee of the Minneapolis railway station also sold lumber in an attempt to earn extra money. When he received some unexpected and unwanted watches he embarked upon a new enterprise, selling watches and this became Sears Watch Company in 1886. A few months later in 1887 met a gentleman from Indiana by the name of Alvah C. Roebuck. This meeting gave birth to a thriving company called, Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1893. Approximately three years later a general catalog was generated. By the year 1945 a store opened in Chicago with sales surpassing one billion dollars. Sears, Roebuck and company continued to increase offering many services. However, in 199os there was a noteworthy decline in sales and two years later there was a major transition that involved senior management down to the sales associates (Sears, 2011).

An economical astute gentleman known as Sebastian S. Kresge desired to be successful. He had multiple occupations, i.e., bookkeeper, teacher clerk, and business man and he knew how to manage his finances. He became a successful businessman who came about through nickel and dime stores by way of Kmart stores, thus becoming a millionaire. In the year of 1996 Kresge sales exceeded one billion dollars. He contributed his success by stating he was a good listener, and adhered to sound advice and hard work. He was known to work 12-18 hours per day. According to Kresge, "when one starts at the bottom he learns to scrape and everything else is made easy," (Sears Holdings Corporation, 2011).

In 2002 with some two thousand plus stores Kmart landed on hard times specifically as it goes to financial burdens. An immediate fix was in order which resulted in filing Chapter 11, bankruptcy. The outcome was incredibly eventful for some six hundred stores and almost sixty thousand employees found themselves unemployed.

Kmart and Sears were not partners but found their business were in financial trouble with contributions from decrease sales and failure to move with the demands from an ever changing industry. Sears sales included similar items as Kmart. An interesting finding included location, which Sears discovered they were not located where they were needed. Sears had a need to relocate, specifically from mall settings (Rahman & Eisner, 2007). Moreover, Sears encountered negative experiences secondary to credit card defaults. With both companies undergoing financial hardships Sears and Kmart realized that change was inevitable.

A merger between Kmart and Sears took place on March 24, 2005 resulting in Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC). This action resulted in an improvement occurred with this merger and eventually it became the fourth largest merchandising store in the United States. With this merger came online sales and improved automotive services. Sears products such as appliances were sold in Kmart and groceries could be purchased from Kmart. Currently