Coral Gables Sears
Store Information:
Opening Date: October 27, 1954
Address: 3655 SW 22nd St, Miami, FL 33145
Status as of Publication: Open with existing redevelopment plans. Closure unconfirmed.
Before reading this post, please read Step Back in Time 1.
Well, here we are at Step Back in Time 2. The Sears we’ll be exploring today is the oldest Sears still in operation and one of only five Sears stores left in the world. Sears is owned by Transformco, the same company that owns Kmart, so I put both posts in the same series. This store is two floors, with about eighty percent of the second floor closed off. One side of the first floor is clothes, and the other side is (mostly) tools and appliances. There were more employees around than expected, so I had to take the pictures quickly to prevent questioning.
Let’s get going.
These Cosco boxes have “Travel Systems” in them.
Just like with the Kmart post, we’ll be looking at the “goodies” that I got from the store.
With that done, it’s time for Google Earth aerial photos.
The small building in the upper left of the picture is the old Sears Auto Center.
Here’s the Historic Aerials link to see some older aerials.
With this store visited, I can now say that I’ve been to both Kmart and Sears. Miami-Dade County is the only county left in the country with both an operating Kmart and an operating Sears, so I was able to visit and photograph both stores on the same day. Even though this store is seventy-two years old, it was honestly a nicer store than I expected. Nothing inside seemed to be failing except for the escalator, and the store seemed fairly clean. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to this location since the process of planning the redevelopment has already started; however, the redevelopment could never happen. There is no confirmed closing date, and the property looks the same as it has for years. The store didn’t seem to be getting a lot of business, as most of the people inside were employees (if you look carefully at my photos, you’ll notice there are less people in them then there usually are.
I’ve been posting a lot recently, but I’m going to slow down a bit for a few weeks. I have a trip to some places that have major grocery chains besides Publix planned, so I think I’ll be able to do a few posts on non-Publix grocery stores soon.
I’ll be back in about two weeks.
Mr. Rejoice Retail.
I was also thinking the store was attractive, not something you’d expect from a massively successful chain that’s now failing. I sometimes wonder why a few stores remain in these situations. It’s actually kind of sad. It’s does seem as though time has just passed them by.
I think that major online retailers such as Amazon have taken the business away from these stores. Making Kenmore and Craftsman products available from other retailers besides Sears was also not a good idea.
Have I been transported back to 1992??? Was a lot of fun to revisit a similar looking Sears to the one I visited as a kid. I really liked the cart with the old logo.
All things considered, this Sears actually looks decently stocked. I visited the remaining Orlando Sears at the Florida Mall last summer, and and that store was pathetic. Part of that store’s first floor is being subdivided for a new arcade, and because of that, only a small piece of the first floor is still being used by Sears. Due to the subdivision, the only way to access the second floor of that store now is via a weird corridors that wraps around the perimeter of the subdivided space to an elevator that takes you to the 2nd floor, where all the clothes are (which were very spaced not and not as well stocked as this store’s clothing department). The sliver of first floor left is home to what remains of hardlines.
Oddly, even with the current state of Sears and redevelopment plans filed for this property, that “Kenmore Studio” section was only added last year. I was surprised to see Sears put some kind of investment into a physical store, let alone one seemingly destined for closure sooner rather than later. I’m not surprised to hear this store was devoid of shoppers. I don’t think anyone thinks to shop at Sears anymore, even the people who happen to live near one of the few remaining stores. I don’t see what the purpose is of the few remaining stores, but this store seems to be one of the better examples of a Sears left out there. If you ever do go to the Orlando one at the Florida Mall, be prepared for quite the disappointment.
I was originally going to visit the Orlando store, and then I realized that I would have a much easier time getting to the Coral Gables one. Now I’m wondering whether I should even try to visit the Orlando location. This location was a bit of a surprise to me. I expected to be greeted by vast empty salesfloor with a bit of merchandise scattered here and there, but, as you saw by my photos, that was not the case.
I had seen pictures of that Kenmore Studio thing online and wondered what the point of it was. I still don’t get why Sears would pay for something like that to be put in. I think that maybe this store makes more money than the other four locations. I may try to visit the Braintree location in the future to see how it differs from this store.