Sears Is the New Abercrombie?

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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Sears Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) on Thursday introduced Now + Here, a new fast-fashion shop within its stores and on its website that aims to offer monthly deliveries of trendy items. Because the first thing you think of when you hear the name Sears is … fashion?

This is the newest effort in the company’s ongoing, and so far unsuccessful, turnaround. Recently the once-iconic retailer has been spinning off some of its businesses, and its Shop Your Way program is part of a new member-centric focus. With Now + Here, the goal is to bring new fashion trends from design studios to store shelves much more quickly and to increase the rate of cycling through new designs.

That puts it in the same space as teen retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) and American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO). But is that the way for Sears to go? Mall-based, brick-and-mortar stores are not exactly thriving these days, thanks to the sluggish economic recovery and to shifting consumer preferences to sources like Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Both Abercrombie and Sears made the 24/7 Wall St. list of retailers closing the most stores.

Now + Here is scheduled to launch in the second week of April and it will offer an assortment of fashion tops, bottoms, cardigans and vests that will range in price from $20 to $42.

Has Eddie Lampert, the hedge fund manager and CEO of Sears, found the secret to making Sears an unstoppable retail goliath again? Seems unlikely.

Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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