Better Isn't Happening at Sears

This Christmas, I made my first-ever purchase from Sears: a capacious upright freezer for our basement. Sears had a great price, much better than I saw anywhere else. Unfortunately for Sears, I hopefully will not need to purchase another freezer for decades. And it doesn't seem to sell much else that I want.

That right there is the core problem with Sears Holdings Corp.'s business model. It used to be the "everything" store for people who couldn't shop in town. You wanted a dress shirt? Sears had a dress shirt. How about a cream separator? Of course. And would you like to add a piano to your order? It had that, too. It was the Amazon.com of its era: not only comprehensive, but -- because of its enormous scale -- also able to offer bargains that no one else could match.