"Sears suffers as it skimps on stores"

Good article on the economic impact of deferred maintenance in today's Wall Street Journal.  Miguel Bustillo's piece contrasts traditional chain store annual maintenance spending of $6.00 to $8.00 per square foot with Sears current level, about $1.90; he ties maintenance spending levels to Sears steady decline in sales since 2005.  ("No one really comes here anymore", said the only customer to be found at the Sears store visited.)

The article does not specifically mention janitorial floor maintenance, but that's got to be a major part of the store's deteriorating appearance; for several years, I've heard stories around the industry about draconian reductions in budget, burnishing schedules, and so on.  A tacky looking floor in a big box store is about the first thing you notice on walking in - and you tend to not walk in again.  That's why, in even our smaller accounts, we pretty much insist on including appropriate floor maintenance (periodic burnishing, as needed refinishing) in our cleaning package.  A worn floor shouts lack of maintenance, lack of cleaning and sanitation, and lack of caring management.

Maintain it, and they will come (customers, that is).

 

Comments

[Ed Selkow]

Bob, I was in charge of the janitorial services for several mid western states of Sears and Kmart stores and witnessed this first hand. Sears was one of this country's truly great companies, pioneering what we know today as direct mail marketing and supplying rural America with just about everything we couldn't grow by ourselves. There are many factors in the decline of this once great company but the one that I would have to believe is key is the business school grads that manage the company. Business schools are turning out more people, credentialed but unqualified. How many once great companies are being managed by folks who have come up through the ranks compared to ones where whiz kids are brought in with worthless degrees from business schools? This is only a personal theory based on my own observations but I think there is a link.

[Bob Croft]

I agree, Ed. Long after it's glory days as a catalog firm, Sears was the gold standard in tools and appliances for the middle class. I wonder if its slide might have begun when Sears began selling real estate, insurance and brokerage services in its stores. Those would be the kind of synergies that MBAs tout (if you're in the store for a socket wrench set, and see the insurance counter, you might stop) but would likely not have occured to the quality merchandise oriented hands on guys. Great treatment of other "synergy" expectations in "Billion Dollar Lessons". http://www.amazon.com/Billion-Dollar-Lessons-Inexcusable-Business-Failures/dp/1591842190/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322332280&sr=1-1