Shopping at Sears was a depressing experience for years. They really let the stores fall apart, employees clearly didn't care, the products were crap, etc. I think they made most of their money off Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances.

Think Sears is bad, try KMart.

It's like something out of Mad Max. I had the misfortune of popping into one on the way to the airport for a vacation, after I realized I hadn't brought a watch. I swear there were tumbleweeds blowing down the aisles. While I was waiting to check out, I watched a toothless young lady harangue the cashier into selling her several sets of Boston Bruins towels that were clearly marked as $19.99 for $5 apiece. The cashier brought her manager over to doublecheck, shoulders were shrugged, and zero fucks were given. As I was leaving, a befuddled elderly lady was trying to return items she'd bought at a TJ Maxx. There was no TJ Maxx in this strip mall, nor within five miles. I got the hell out of there with my cheap wristwatch and resolved never to return.

The most anachronistic part of this comment is the wristwatch.

KMart was always udown market, which is why they took the Sears name (which historically had some associations with quality) for the merged entity when KMart bought Sears.

Shop smart, shop SMart.

They had a pretty good sale on men's shoes a few months ago so got some new ones. It is dead quiet though, and hard to track down staff, and looks like crap

I work right next to a Sears. I've tried to buy things a couple times and it's always a huge pain. I almost always have to wait or hunt down someone to check me out, they often get confused at the process, they ask me for irrelevant things like my phone number and email address to sign me up for stuff I don't want. The process just takes way too long when it's obvious I'm in a hurry to leave.

It seems like they won't even give a shit if people just walked out with the merchandise without paying.