Sears Holdings pre-reported Q4 results which showed a rapid deterioration yesterday. The most alarming item in the press release was the rapid deterioration in sales trends at both Sears and Kmart. Sears comparable store sales trends ran -3.3% in the YTD period (which is a month away from the full year) while the trends through the first two months of the 4th quarter came in at -6.0%. Kmart sales slowed from -1.8% to -4.4% in the YTD to QTD period. Retailing is tough and you can’t run a retailer without regard for the shopping experience. Eddie Lampert attempted to replicate the magic formula he applied to AutoZone (AZO) with Sears Holdings. The experiment has failed in spectacular fashion. In order to understand what went wrong with Sears it is...


