I think the original plan was to use Sears to acquire more top brands, not sell them off. He made a failed bid for Restoration Hardware early on, and talked about building a portfolio of strong all-American brands.

The liquidation strategy was a reaction to his plan failing as far as I'm aware. In the early years all the talk was on building a bigger conglomerate, possibly using Sears "super valuable" real estate to fuel it.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2004-11-21/the-next-...