Sears got me to come in because of a sale on mens shirts. It was raining and I am with my then two year old who is bored out of her skull in the massive line I am trying to keep her from getting upset and sitting on the sludge of mud from footprints. Counter person tries this on me and I am not proud of myself but I snap telling him that this is why the line is so long and could you please please just take my money for the items I wish to buy.
The CEO was selling physical locations to his own privately held firm and leasing them back to Sears, increasing their operating costs significantly... And him walking away richer.
And they missed the whole online shopping "fad". They were the king of print catalogue sales and distribution for a century. All they needed to do was digitize it in an intelligent way. And they didn't.