Sears

Sears is a chain of department stores. It was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1886 as R.W Sears Watch Company. In 1893 the name was changed to Sears, Roebuck, and Co.

History
Sears began as R.W Sears Watch Company after Richard Sears got a shipment of watches and sold them. Sears later hired Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1887. In 1893 the name was changed to Sears Roebuck and Co and the business began to rise along with competitor, Montgomery Ward. However Sears was always more successful. Sears made it's first catalog in 1893 and it quickly grew to 500 pages. The company kept growing and at one point 1% of the United States' sales came from Sears. They had 1 billion in revenue in the 1940s and built the Sears Tower in 1973. They made companies such as Allstate, DieHard, Discover Card, Craftsman, and Kenmore.

Decline
By the 70s Sears was already declining, struggling to fill up the entire Sears Tower and having to sell brands. In 1990 Sears was no longer the #1 retailer. Sears closed many locations and by the 90s they were dying and it showed. The Softer Side of Sears helped sort out the problem but by the 2000s the campaign was stopped. Sears also stopped selling many things such as music and their stores were getting outdated. In 2004 Sears merged with Kmart which at first was a success but fell to the ground. More stores closed and more brands were sold. Sears filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and got out of bankruptcy in early 2019. Today they have 60 stores/