u/Leather_Network4743

I’m stuck in Orlando for the month, so I figured I’d check out one of the Final Five Sears stores in existence. I didn’t take pictures because there are tons in this sub already, and it honestly took longer to park than how much time I spent in there. I was actually prepared and semi-excited to buy something from hardware, but I never even made it that far because I just felt an overwhelming need to leave.

Obviously, it was incredibly depressing for me. It really just looked like they’re keeping the doors open because Transformco says so and aren’t trying to actually make it a retail store whatsoever. I feel bad for the employees who are running out the clock - hopefully they’re being taken care of. The JC Penney (which I know is on its last legs) I walked through to get there was comparatively bustling and looked “normal” and fully stocked compared to this sad attempt at a retail store. Sears had refrigerators, washers/dryers, grills and large promotional signage at and outside of the mall entrance, blocking what was behind it all and making it almost impossible to see that there was an operational store behind it all. Most of the first floor was apparel with some indoor and outdoor appliances interspersed, which was strange. There was one outside entrance open near MPU, which was the most tucked-away of the three once-available options. Driving around the outside, it looked like they had removed a bunch of the auto center innards as there was fencing around it and a couple of roll-off dumpsters with a ton of garbage in them. Signs all around saying “we’re open!” And pointing to the MPU entrance. There were a handful of “shoppers” inside, but nobody actually buying anything. I didn’t even go upstairs, since all that was available to do so was an elevator down a weird walled-off-from-construction corridor. Literally less than five minutes inside. The rest of the mall was actually decently busy for a Thursday around 3pm.

I’ll choose to remember my second-to-last visit to a Sears back in the mid-2000s as what Sears actually was to me, which was a retail wonderland.