Sears has been in some hot water and red ink for some time now, but that is really nothing new for Sears, here is an article that tells a bit about the early ups and downs of Sears, and this article will tell you a bit about some of the more interesting Sears products.
As I said, Sears has seen hard times before, and in a way that is part of the point of this article. But first, if sears goes out of business, this is why:

If Sears Goes Out Of Business, This Is Why: DieHard Batteries.

Sears was a market innovator from the beginning. You could order items from the Sears catalog that you could not get anywhere else. The Sears opened stores that were easy to drive to. For a while Sears even sold mail order cars. Sears began selling Craftsman hand tools in 1927 for the do-it-yourself-er and shade tree mechanic, so why not begin selling car batteries in 1967? After all, if someone needs a new car battery, why not just get one at Sears?

Do You Remember This Die Hard Car Battery TV Commercial? When Was The Last Time You Saw A Die Hard Car Battery Commercial?

In the beginning, DieHard batteries were guaranteed to last as long as the original owner of the battery kept the battery in the original car in which the DieHard battery was installed. This was the supposedly the best battery and the best warranty on the market, so everyone bought DieHard batteries.

What may have seemed like a good idea at the time, or even just a low cost incentive to keep customers returning to Sears to shop, apparently turned out to be a long run disaster.
Sears had to stop honoring their lifetime warranty, even though they were trying to keep lifetime customers.

Perhaps worse yet, Sears introduced a less expensive battery to replace the original DieHard battery, so if you did buy a new DieHard, it died relatively easy in comparison to the Old DieHard that everyone counted on.

DieHard Batteries Went From A Lifetime Warranty To A More Realistic Pro Rata Warranty, But Then A DieHard Was Just Like Any Other Car Battery.

Today you can still go to a Sears to buy a Die Hard battery for your car, but you will probably pass two or three Sears competitors that sell the same battery. And these competitors will install the battery for you free. Free installation vs carrying a car battery through a mall…hmm. Perhaps the Die Hard Battery is an example of Sears falling behind the times.

If Sears Goes Out Of Business, This Is Why: Allstate Insurance.

Did you know that Allstate Insurance and Sears are related? Did you know that Allstate is more closely related to tires than anything else? Did you know there was an Allstate car for sale? Yup, all of these are true. The story goes like this.

Allstate Insurance Began As A Service You Could Order From The Sears And Roebuck Mail Order Catalog.

The year is 1925. Sears has a new brand of tires to sell, and so in the fine Sears tradition
of trying to build brand and customer loyalty, Sears held a contest to determine the name of it’s new tire line. Apparently there were more than 2 million submissions, so Sears had managed to get the public involved. As you may have deduced, Allstate was the winning name for the tire line. The name was eventually extended to car batteries and fire extinguishers and even an Allstate car. (I imagine the Allstate car was designed to be safe.)

You Could Buy An Allstate Car At Sears, Or Order One Through The Catalog And Pick It Up At Sears, For A Couple Years Anyway…

The Allstate car insurance idea was born in 1930. Back then, car insurance was not mandatory, and relatively few drivers had it. The minds at Sears figured that car insurance might be a moneymaker if done right, so they set out to do it right. Somehow…..within a couple of decades, car insurance became mandatory in most states, and business boomed, as you may imagine. Originally, Allstate car insurance was sold through direct mail ads and in the Sears and Roebuck catalog.

But here is the monkey in the Craftsman wrench. Today Allstate is among the top three insurance companies and had reported profits of $35.2 billion in 2014. Sounds great for Sears right? If Sears goes out of business perhaps it will be because it cultivates great ideas and then squanders the results. Sears has had nothing to do with Allstate Corporation since 1995. I can only surmise that since Sears is on the financial ropes again, any cash infusion from the sale of Allstate has long since finished infusing.

If Sears Goes Out Of Business, It Wont Be Because Of Lack Of Cash Infusions.

If Sears Goes Out Of Business, This Is Why: Kenmore Appliances.

Yes, if Sears goes out of business, Kenmore appliances probably put a few nails in the Sears coffin. By the way, Sears does not sell coffins, but they do sell urns for human remains. But back to Kenmore. Kenmore appliances first appeared in 1927. Like many of the offerings in the Sears and Roebuck stores and catalog, Sears had the appliances produced by a manufacturer and sold under the Kenmore brand.

These Old Kenmore Appliances Ran Forever, And When They Broke, You Could Fix Them And They Would Run For Another Forever.

Times being what they were though, products were generally made in America, and products made in America were made by Americans, and Americans made products to last. Having a Kenmore appliance for fifteen or twenty years was the norm.

Today Kenmore appliances are still produced by Whirlpool and GE and Panasonic and the like, but these companies are not what they once were either. And Americans don’t make appliances anymore, and things don’t last even ten years anymore. Kenmore does not have the same meaning it once did. In fact, a google search for Kenmore complaints returns nasty stories. If Sears goes out of business, perhaps it is because “American Made” is no longer in the quality equation at the Kenmore division.

So What If Sears Goes Out Of Business, What Does That Have To Do With Gold?

If Sears goes out of business, it will mark the end of one of the greatest free market entrepreneurial success stories of American history. The point is Sears has had good times and bad, but the question is not “what if Sears goes out of business?”, the correct question is “when will Sears go out of business?”

Eventually all companies fail, and all fiat currencies fail. Gold stands the test of time, even when greats, like Sears and Roebuck & Co. fade into history. Own gold and protect part of your wealth from going the way of the Allstate Car.

A 1952 Allstate Two Door Sedan. Note The Badging And The Unique Allstate Blue Color. The Engine Was Blue Too.