If you grew up in the 80s, like me, you understand the first thing any reasonable person would do in the event of a zombie apocalypse or interstellar plague would be head to the mall to score some super deals at Orange Julius or Olympia Sporting Goods. So we found this note from Jim Doorn, who attended the final hours of the Sears at the Hamilton Mall, which closed over the weekend, highly relatable. The scene there was like something out of Night of the Comet. Except there were lines.
“Upon entering,” Jim notes, the store was “void of anything, a blank slate and no people. The back right corner had a handful of washers and dishwashers with people getting the deals of a lifetime.”
The up escalator was not working. The down one was.
“More than half the first floor is empty of stock, not a single shoe. Mostly clothing and a few hand tools, xmas decor and odds and ends.”
It was 95% off apparel and accessories, 60% to 80% off everything else. They were selling clothing racks for $1. And using trash bags as shopping bags. “Shopping carts were overflowing with clothing.”
“A common occurrence while in line were people were asking each other “where’d you find that?”, they would then ask the person the next to them to hold their place in line while they grabbed even more stuff. This would happen multiple times to the point it was being joked about in line. With humorous comments about people needing to be cut off from anymore shopping. I myself went back twice to grab more stuff, the lady in front of me three times, the ladies behind me, 10 times.”
The line was two hours on Saturday, Jim says. Forty-five minutes Sunday.
“Register staff was friendly and cordial despite the overwhelming workload and impending unemployment,” Jim reports.
“I bought 3 ties, two bathing suits and five pair of pants for $14.51.”
“On a personal note, I’m quite upset about Sears closing. My mom was paralyzed so she did most of her shopping from the Sears Catalog; family clothing, gifts, and household items all came from Sears. Four generations of my family bought all their appliances, tools and lawnmowers from their. Also, all my sedans and SUVs for Airport Chariot Car Service and Limo got their oil changes and batteries at Sears for the last 19 years. It’s definitely left a hole.”