Locally owned Sears Outlets, and Sear's Hometown Stores is the only way they will survive. (and allowing Craftsman to sell tools at Ace) They will survive only as a supplier to franchised stores.
These stores are also newer. IMO, we got a Big K, much like the Wal-Marts before the "supercenters" took over. The problem is the place has not seen improvements since it was built, back in the 1980's. It's a dump.
Again, it is Kmart that never learned, they started to fail when they put "PC" above sales.... You used to be able to buy ammo at Kmart. The lack of support is why they are in the mess they are in now. When they dumped Rosie, how many of you went back? Considering they were actually competing with Walmart, nobody returned!