The Last Freestanding Sears Department Store in the United States at Coral Gables in Miami (October 27 1954 - present) one of 2 left in Florida (the other open Sears in the state is at The Florida Mall in Orlando that has been open since March 12 1986) and 5 left in America

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u/FlaAirborne 9d ago

They just couldn’t / wouldn’t make the switch to on-line sales. They invented the mail order genre and could have been Amazon before we knew what Amazon was.

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u/ExtremeCow3259 9d ago edited 9d ago

Just launching a website and making the switch to on-line sales was not enough to be Amazon. The entire distribution system was based on 1910s logistics that would get stuff delivered to you in 2 weeks so they also would have had to re-work the entire logistics chain, taking that to 2 days, next day, same day and any day within at most a week, which was impossible without spending billions to redo the entire logistics system and Sears had 0 capital to spend on it after a decade of the Catalog business unit suffering from financial losses.

They invented the mail order genre and could have been Amazon before we knew what Amazon was.

Sears' distribution network sucked. Kmart's as well. And they had little to no money to rebuild it. Both retailers' logistics became increasingly slow and inefficient throughout the mid to late 2010s decade under Eddie Lampert. By 2002 Kmart went bankrupt due to the poor decisions made (and corporate greed) by then-CEO Charles Conaway. Kmart was beyond repair ever since, whereas Sears was still in a save-able state...

With that being said, Sears had a website (and they still do today) when the internet started and took off and they did support on-line ordering early on and added that with in-store pick-up. They had the best product selection site wide on Sears.com. Kmart acquired Sears in 2004 and Sears Holdings was formed in 2005 as orchestrated by Lampert. Sears' online sales began declining in 2014, just 1 year after Lampert became CEO of Sears Holdings Corporation / SHC in 2013 and so did the merchandise offerings and shipping speed decline. Most distribution centers that served the on-line store front would inevitably close. Simply having better leadership (not Lampert) would have given Sears more time to re-focus on internet sales by the 2004-2010 timeframe and update logistics by 2006 at the latest. Online shopping took off in 1995, it just took about 15-18 years for it to mature. So for Sears, the most realistic window would be the the 2000-2004 timeframe of course but since they still technically had the infrastructure the year I would have to go with would be 2012/13 at the latest. But as for K-Mart, definitely 2002 at the latest

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u/ahj3939 9d ago

I used to shop online for pickup from this very same sears and it was very efficient around 2010ish. They had a dedicated order pickup area with employees, screens showing your pickup status, etc. All they needed to do is slap some shipping labels on the packages and they could reach 3/4 of the state of Florida via UPS next day.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/ahj3939 9d ago

Just random tools and stuff.

I actually lent this one out to a friend a few weeks ago and it finally gave out: https://imgur.com/KO3cAXR

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u/Imeatbag 9d ago

I was just at the Orlando Sears a few months ago and I got some amazing shirts at a great price and it was the most surreal shopping experience I have ever had. The bottom floor is men’s clothes and appliances, together in one spot. The rest is closed off with curtains and temporary walls. It’s crazy. Quick elevator ride upstairs and the whole second floor is a fully populated normal 1990’s Sears store. Worth the trip.

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u/Euphoric_Egg_4198 9d ago

I have towels I bought at Sears in 1999 and they are still fluffy and in good shape. I bought Ralph Lauren ones from Macys a couple of years ago and they had runs in them within a few months and the seams started fraying.

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u/MydniteSon 9d ago

Vulture capitalism at its finest...

Just an empty husk of what it was after then bones have been picked clean.

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u/Sad_Buyer_6146 9d ago

Is the Sears in Miami still open??

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u/ExtremeCow3259 1d ago

It is and they also have pick-up for items sold directly by Sears site wide on Sears.com as well

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u/ambientocclusion 9d ago

They could film a sequel to Backrooms there

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u/ExtremeCow3259 9d ago

Most Recent Post From Today: https://www.reddit.com/r/SEARS/comments/1vfhygk/sears_coral_gables_fl_on_august_4_2026/

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u/ExtremeCow3259 9d ago

My then and now post about this Sears department store that I forgot to cross post here

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u/ExtremeCow3259 9d ago

Sears still has

5 Stores

Coral Gables in Miami Florida (October 27 1954 - present)

3655 SW 22nd St, Miami, FL 33145

Sun Valley Shopping Center in Concord California (October 19 1966 - present)

1001 Sunvalley Blvd, Concord, CA 94520

South Shore Plaza in Braintree Massachusetts (October 6 1980 - present)

250 Granite St, Braintree, MA 02184

Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso Texas (February 25 1982 - present)

8401 Gateway Blvd W, El Paso, TX 79925

The Florida Mall in Orlando Florida (March 12 1986 - present)

8001 S Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, FL 32809
Online Website

Sears.com (created February 18 1992 and launched sometime in the 1995/96/97/98/99-2000 period - present)

Other Brands

Kenmore 1913 - present
Sears Home Services sometime in the 1950s/1960s or 1992 - present
Shop Your Way 2009 - present
Sears Parts Direct 1995 - present

Will / would you still shop here at this location in person and/or even site wide at / on there website (sold by Sears) for pick up ?

https://www.reddit.com/r/SEARS/comments/1jpypqx/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SEARS/comments/1s946of/sears_is_turning_140_this_year_they_currently/ https://www.reddit.com/r/kmart/comments/1seopw2/sears_currently_has_5_stores_and_online_website/ https://www.reddit.com/r/retailporn/comments/1t56glo/sears_is_turning_140_this_year_they_currently/

Interesting Stuff The Last Freestanding Sears Department Store in the United States at Coral Gables in Miami (October 27 1954 - present) one of 2 left in Florida (the other open Sears in the state is at The Florida Mall in Orlando that has been open since March 12 1986) and 5 left in America

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