Sears - No More in 10 Years

I predict that Sears will no longer exist in 10 years.

Question - have they updated their stores in the last 25 years? I am guessing no. If I ever feel like having a flashback of my Garanimal/Toughskin years of the 70’s, all I need to do is to take a stroll through their isles.

I can almost hear the theme of The Brady Bunch…Oh no wait, that’s The Partridge Family. Sorry.

Anyway, I say this not only because of the polyester plaid pants memories they induce, but because of their lack of customer service. Have you been there lately? Excuse my French, but it sucks! It almost like they don’t care.

The only time I enter Sears is for their portrait studio. Let me rephrase that – The only time I entered Sears was for their portrait studio. I have small kids, and my wife bought one of those “Super Saver” discount cards. Seemed like a good deal at the time…

I dreaded every time it was Sears photo time. They have one static camera bolted to the ground and the photographer is usually someone whose past photography experience is taking a photo of her friends at a recent high school party. I am willing to bet their employment ads say “No Experience Necessary.”

My kids were always a nightmare at the photo shoot because they wouldn’t sit still for their huge, non-moving camera. Ok, you could say this was my fault but doesn’t a talented photographer know how to make kids have fun during the photo session?

I would always bring my rosary beads and pray hard for just one photo to come out acceptable. Most of them usually had my daughter crying while my son was darting out of the photo area because he saw a germ infested teddy bear on the shelf that he wanted to play with.

Many times there would be a good three second period when both kids looked like angels. My wife and I would scream at the “photographer,” “TAKE IT! TAKE IT NOW!”

Inevitably she would be three seconds too late and the great photo turned into my daughter crying and my son darting away.

I used to have to change my cloths upon return home from those sessions because of all the sweat I created. The question always was, “Do I change my clothes before or after the stiff drink?”

Now, let me get back to why I think Sears is going bye-bye. First of all, I can’t understand why someone would go to Sears today instead of Target or Wal-Mart for the department store aspect of it and Home Depot or Lowes, for the home improvement aspect of it. Maybe price? Actually, that’s why we chose the portrait studio. But, people want more than price; they want service too. And they also don’t want to feel like it’s 1977.

Here’s a recent example of Sears pending demise. My wife showed up last week, as a walk-in, to get the kids’ photos taken. Sears says that walk-ins are welcome, so my wife actually believed it.

It was 10:45am. The woman apologized and said that she would not be able to take her in because of an 11:30 appointment. That was 45 minutes. More than enough time to endure the torture, right?

Wrong. The woman said that the photos could be taken within that time, but she would need more time to choose the photos and order. My wife said, “Ok, let’s take the photos now and then I’ll come back later to choose and order.”

The minion at the desk apologized again and said that it was not possible. Everything had to be done at once.

Wow, really hungry for that business, eh? These kind of dictates come from the “leaders” above her. And I can tell these “leaders” are really in touch with their customers. So accommodating…NOT. They might want to send their resumes to North Korea after Sears closes. I am sure Kim Jong needs some mindless, emotionless enforcers for his regime.

So, did my wife get mad? More like happy. You know why? Because after she stormed out of there, she walked around the mall and found a place called Portrait Simple. She walked-in and they were happy to see her. They kindly invited her in, made the kids smile and immediately started taking awesome photos. The photographer was a pro, not only in photography, but in customer service.

My wife said the kids actually had fun.

And the photographer did not have a camera bolted to the ground; rather a camera that she held, so was therefore able to move around and take tons of photos at will. The photos turned out great. We walked in yesterday to take more; as a family.

Portrait Simple is true to their name. The actually should be called Portrait Simple, Fun and Great Service.

They have new customers called the Mammano Family.

At Sears, you HAVE to take six different poses, otherwise they won’t sell you anything. I have a friend whose child is autistic, and wouldn’t sit still for the six Sears shots. The kid ran out after the third. Guess what? The mother was not allowed to buy ANY of the shots because her child did not complete the six poses. So instead of selling a mother lots of great shots from the first (only) three, she was forced to storm out, empty handed and massively upset.

Now this is just plain stupidity. When people are trying to give a company money and they won’t take it, well, that’s usually the beginning of the end.

Guess how may poses Portrait Simple requires you to take. None. It’s like they studied what Sears has been doing wrong in their portrait studio and decided to do the exact opposite.

I think Richard Warren Sears, founder of Sears must be shedding a tear.

Employee Volunteering

At the beginning of this year, I asked myself, "How can I support the Rochester community better and also support my employees’ desire to get involved."

The answer was simple. Pay for them to volunteer!

In today's nutty world, it's hard to find/make time to volunteer. So my thought was that my team works during the day anyway and since these hours are already accounted for, why not let them use this time to give back if they want to.

So I gave everyone a paid week per year to go and volunteer in our community.

It doesn't have to be a week in a row nor do they have to use the whole week. They don't even have to do it at all. It's all up to them.

But at least I support it if they want to.

It's been quite the success so far. Some of our employees signed up for Junior Achievement, others are helping at Camp Good Days and Special Times, Literacy Volunteers and Rotary Sunshine Camp.

The benefits are tremendous. The organization in need is helped by our volunteers, the volunteering Next Stepper feels great to give back and I am pumped that I get to do this for everyone! We set up a volunteer wall in our office and post opportunities to get involved. Plus we encourage our team to post photos of their experience.

The world needs a lot of help but it's all starts right here in our own back yard. As the old Indian proverb says, "A thousand mile journey begins with one step."