The Incredible Shrinking Sears
In a statement, Sears said that the execution of Mr. Lampert’s strategy has had its challenges, but
that the company was making progress “in a very difficult retail environment where many retailers, including Victoria’s Secret, have also been challenged.”
Regarding pay and commissions, Sears said that rather than increase compensation in some
outlets, it chose to keep people employed, and stores open, as long as possible.
The company also said Mr. Lampert had not ignored Mr. Martinez’s advice.
Sears disputed Mr. Martinez’s recollections, saying it was Mr. Martinez who requested the meeting, and denied
that Mr. Lampert had made the comment about buying Sears.
The company also said Mr. Lampert began responding to the e-commerce shift more than a decade ago, well before many retailers did.
“The Sears brand has become largely irrelevant,” he said, “and it breaks my heart to say that.”
Today, Sears Holdings, the publicly traded entity that is the result of the 2005 merger of Sears
and Kmart, coordinated by Mr. Lampert, is on analysts’ short list of most-likely-to-go-bankrupt retailers.
Over a 90-minute meeting in Greenwich, Conn., where they both had offices, Mr. Martinez advised
Mr. Lampert to focus on high-value businesses like appliance sales, Sears’s crown jewel.
