Sears focused on its real estate
Chairman Edward Lampert attempting to make retail space 'more productive'
Sears Holdings Corp. Chairman Edward Lampert regularly takes heat from investors for failing to articulate a strategy. And once again at the company's annual meeting -- the only time he speaks publicly to investors -- he provided little insight into Sears' direction.
But he had plenty of ideas on how to keep Sears going through the toughest retail downturn in decades.
The billionaire investor and majority Sears stakeholder is concentrating these days on how to make about 200 million square feet of retail real estate space "more productive," he told shareholders Monday. He has been adding jobs in Sears' real estate department, while cutting hundreds of jobs elsewhere, in hopes of finding tenants to lease space inside the retailer's stores. He also has reorganized the company so each store is held accountable for the categories it sells and the profits it makes. And he is testing an initiative in which massive stores are transformed into drive-up warehouses.
While the steps don't add up to a strategy, it may not matter in these economic times, said retail consultant Neil Stern.
No comments:
Post a Comment