Sears SW 44th & Western

[Pete]

Sears to close Southside OKC location

The last Sears department store in Oklahoma City is set to meet its demise.

On Friday, the company added 10 more stores to their closure list including the 160,000 square foot location at 4400 S. Western.

The move is part of a rapid contraction due flagging sales and revenue. Sears now operates 894 stores compared to 1,980 just five years ago.

The SW 44th and Western Sears store was built in 1965, includes a Sears Automotive Center and sits on 23.66 acres. To the south of the store, there is a Walmart Neighborhood Market which should not be affected.

Directly across SW 44th, Target closed in 2016 as first reported by OKCTalk. A large amount of that space is being taken by AutoZone as a hub location.

At its peak, Sears had stores at NW 23rd and Pennsylvania (closed in 1991), Quail Springs Mall (closed in 2013 and now a Von Maur) and Heritage Park Mall in Midwest City (closed in 2017).

While the company still operates several scaled-down Hometown Stores across the state, soon the only two Sears department stores in Oklahoma will be in Sooner Mall in Norman and Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa. The Norman location is of the smaller variety, at only 62,000 square feet.

Sears also announced the South OKC store would close in September.

[SoonerDave]

I'm wondering now if Integris is interested in that land.....had heard one reason that store endured was because Sears owned rather than leased it...kinda like the ownership issues that had bottled up the old Ward's location in Crossroads, and I think keeps the Office Depot location at I-240 and Western open....knew it was coming, just sad to see it finally happened.

[Pete]

I have heard rumors about Itegris being interested but this property just landed on a Sears closing list that is completely unrelated to what may be happening locally.

Integris is expanding everywhere but they seem to have plenty of space already.

Probably the best outcome here is if they buy it, otherwise I fear it will soon be a giant eyesore.

[SouthSide]

It would be a good location for a Wal-Mart supercenter and they could close the one on I-240.

[SoonerDave]

It would be a good location for a Wal-Mart supercenter and they could close the one on I-240.

Not sure they would build a SuperCenter on top of a Neighborhood Grocery, although I suppose they could just close the grocery.

The future of the I-240 location is interesting, because I had heard stories of their original plans to kill it when the SW 104th and I-44 location went in, but supposedly some local leaders were asked to reach out to WalMart and ask them to reconsider, which they did - for a time, at least. They won't keep it open indefinitely, obviously.

Not exactly related, but at least a tangential notion to the I-44 Wal Mart is the fact that there are rumblings Lowe's has been looking in that area as well. Purely rumor, but if true, it might call into question the future of the location across from that same I-240 WalMart SuperCenter. If Lowe's and WM both left that corner.....wow...

[Pete]

Walmart just did some upgrades to that Neighborhood Market.

[bluedogok]

I'm wondering now if Integris is interested in that land.....had heard one reason that store endured was because Sears owned rather than leased it...kinda like the ownership issues that had bottled up the old Ward's location in Crossroads, and I think keeps the Office Depot location at I-240 and Western open....knew it was coming, just sad to see it finally happened.

Sears owned most of the old store locations including anchor stores in malls. K-Mart is much more of a mix of owned and leased spaces than Sears was. Selling off properties is how they have been able to survive. They own the building in Cherry Creek North here in Denver, that is prime property right now with sky high sale prices for retail and condo development.

[stile99]

The Sword of Damocles falls at last.

Considering the area I'm guessing Costco is out of the question, but a man can dream.

[Hondo1]

Gawked with about a hundred others to see James Bond's Austin Martin there around 1966.

[guyssocialweb]

Do we know if the Auto center will close also. It seems to do a lot of business. If someone invested in that if it did close i think it would be a prime location.

[Uptowner]

Just bought some non craftsman branded tools there in June. The off-brand had better castings and internals. Pretty sad.

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^^
Not even sure that Craftsman is a Sears-connected brand anymore. It’s defintely not EXCLUSIVE to Sears. You can buy it at Ace, Fastenal, Lowe’s, Atwoods and other places.

[jedicurt]

^^^^^^^^
Not even sure that Craftsman is a Sears-connected brand anymore. It’s defintely not EXCLUSIVE to Sears. You can buy it at Ace, Fastenal, Lowe’s, Atwoods and other places.

Stanley Black and Decker bought the Craftsman line in March of 2017

[Urbanized]

Ah, makes sense. That said you’ve been able to buy it at some of those other places for a decade or so at least.

[rezman]

Ace has been carrying Craftsman for some years now. Since before Sears sold off the brand. Lowes has only recently started carrying the brand. Craftsman lower line rachets in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 drive have been junk for years.

I bought some of the Craftsman Evolve brand 3/8 drive allen socket sets a few years back for work and I still have them. They are much better quality than the regular Craftsman 3/8 drive allen sockets, which are also junk.

I also have a set of Mac allen sockets that I love. They have replaceable allens for when you snap one off.

[SoonerDave]

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Kobalt line of tools from Lowe's. Much sturdier and serviceable than I expected.

[jedicurt]

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Kobalt line of tools from Lowe's. Much sturdier and serviceable than I expected.

agreed. but like with any brand, you get what you pay for. the cheapest version of Kobalt products, I haven't been happy with, I spend a bit more and I am very happy with them. Same as it sounds with someone aboves experience with Craftsman, the cheap line is cheap, better lines cost a bit more

[d-usa]

i'm a believer of the whole "buy your tools on the cheap, and if you use it enough to break it buy an expensive and higher quality replacement". Unless you are talking about something that your life depends on (like a jack stand maybe), there isn't that much use in breaking the bank for a tool that you barely ever use.

[rezman]

^ Having worked with my hands and tools most of my life, I can agree with this, .... to an extent.

I have a mixture of Craftsman, Mac and Snap On, hand tools and even a set of Taiwan Tatools brand thin combo wrenches in my roll cab at work that have served me well.

I have mostly Craftsman at home as they serve me well there,... again, except for the rachets.

Both my work and home Craftsman sets I purchased at the Sears that used to be at 23rd & Penn and are all stamped Craftsman USA. The ratchets in all 3 drive sizes I’ve replaced at least once, as well as some of the screw drivers.

My wife has some cheapo tools, of the Harbor Freight variety, that she keeps for her use around the house for her projects, and it drives me nuts if I have to use them. I’ll offen put them down and go get mine.

At my job, the people that buy the Harbor Freight hand tools usually don’t have them very long. They’re starter tools at best and wind up in the trash.

On the other hand, we’ve had a couple guys at work buy nothing but Snap On... box, tools, everything. They put themselves in serious debt and it didn’t make them any better mechanically.

[catch22]

I’ll definitely spend extra money on anything that ratchets. The cheap ratcheting tools don’t have a lot of teeth on the gears, but the more expensive ones have a lot of teeth, you can be in a tight spot and still get enough ratcheting action that you can’t get with a cheaper tool.

Wrenches and screwdrivers - I buy the cheap ones.

[SoonerDave]

I remember when Craftsman first started going into the toilet - I had a broken, relatively old (well, not *that* old, but old enough) ratchet, and it simply stripped out. So down I go to Ace not very long after they started carrying them to get my replacement, and the only choice was this awful version that OOZED plastic from every corner. I think even the interior gearing was plastic judging from the sound of the click-stops. Mind you, I'm not mechanic or big-time expert, just a DIY'er, so I surely don't put my tools through as much abuse as one who is, but if I can tell when the Crafstman line went south, I can only imagine when "real" mech types realized it. Sad thing is, same thing apparently happened to their power tools as well...OTOH, I"ve heard of people who go to estate and garage sales, and find old-school Craftsman cabinet, table, and radial arm saws going for next-to-nothing, and THOSE guys are among the generation designed to stinking last forever....

[bluedogok]

My Craftsman ratchet and socket set is more than 30 years old, still works great. I bought a Craftsman 3/8" drive click torque wrench in 2004, it failed about a year later. I have my father old Craftsman belt sander, probably 45 years old. Most of what I have bought from Sears since 2000 has been disappointing. I have some Harbor Freight tools, mostly for a specific task. I bought a 3/4" drive set for the 19mm & 46mm socket to remove the rear wheel nut. I bought it on sale for $35.00, I found a 46mm 1/2" socket by itself for $32.00. For as little as I used it that was a no brainer.

[Pete]

Massive VASA Fitness to bring new life to old Sears property


As the Sears at SW 44th and Western nears its final closure date, plans have emerged to redevelop the property and add a large new fitness center.

Based in Utah, VASA Fitness now has 26 locations in that state as well as Colorado, Kansas and a new location is set to open soon in Tulsa. Typical amenities include and indoor lap pool, aerobics / group exercise and spin classes, a basketball court, free weight area, hot tub hyrdro-massage, raquetball courts, steam and sauna, tanning and childcare facilities.

Based on plans by the owner of the entire property (which is independent from Sears), VASA would be located to the north and the front half of the Sears building would be razed with the remainder split into smaller retail bays.

Similarly, the Sears Automotive Center at the corner would be remodeled into a retail strip center and pad sites will be added for satellite buildings.

The Sears closing follows the shuttering of the Target directly to the south. However, the Target property is already being redeveloped with a large AutoZone distribution center under construction and Dollar already open in part of that space.

The 160,000 square foot Sears store was built in 1965, includes and sits on 23.66 acres. It it set to close in September and is currently running a clearance sale.

[seaofchange]

This facility might make me leave Fitness One. The pricing looks awesome - Tulsa location will be $19.99 a month for the package that includes everything but the team training classes.

Maybe this will get places like Golds gym to reconsider their pricing.

[ChrisHayes]

I've never heard of VASA Fitness, but it looks like a cool setup. Plus, they're far more affordable than other national fitness chains such as Golds Gym. I'm glad to see the property already about to be redeveloped. I was afraid it would sit empty for years on end because of it's location. But it looks like they've got some pretty good plans for it.