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Looks like the Cambridgeside Sears has some short-term sales jobs - very, very short term

By adamg on Sat, 10/13/2018 - 9:28pm
Cambridgeside Galleria Sears is closing

Ron Newman reports store-closing signs are up at the Sears at the Cambridgeside Galleria.

Neighborhoods: 
Cambridge
Topics: 
Business
Free tagging: 
Cambridgeside Galleria


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Comments

By anon on Sat, 10/13/2018 - 9:39pm.

Here’s hoping that Lechmere takes over the Sears space!

By theszak on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 8:21am.

It's not actually Sears. It's a liquidator operator outfit. It's not Cambridgeside. It's a separate building.

By Ron Newman on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 8:27am.

It is not connected to the mall on the first floor, but it is on both the second and third floors. It is still listed in the mall directory and mall map.

By theszak on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 6:16pm.

In terms of CambridgeSide and adjacent buildings' architecture how many buildings are connected? How many buildings are adjacent? At what link online are the architectural design plans?

By eeka on Wed, 10/17/2018 - 10:30am.

Why don't you walk or take public transport over there and look? This is how most people find out what a mall looks like.

By Waquiot on Wed, 10/17/2018 - 11:34am.

There's another, closer option. He can go to the Cambridge Building Department (or whatever it is called) and access the building plans there. They are most likely not online, since they are typically not digitized.

Of course, if the Cambridge Public Library has an EIR for the project, that would give an outline of the development, too.

Or, he could just do what you say, which is eyeball it himself.

By eeka on Thu, 10/18/2018 - 3:46pm.

That the Cambridge Building Department would not provide them in plain ASCII format

And the Cambridge Public Library would result in problematic library usage

But this is just a hunch

By johnmcboston on Wed, 10/17/2018 - 8:07am.

Already reported they want to level that area and build a housing/business/retail building.

By Charles Bahne on Sat, 10/13/2018 - 9:46pm.

The "store closing" signs may be new, but they have been having a "massive inventory clearance" "nothing held back" "everything must go" sale for about 3 weeks now -- including ads in the Globe and Herald.

Last I checked, the store was not yet on the official lists of Sears stores to be closed, but (ahem) the signs were there for all to see.

By Ron Newman on Sat, 10/13/2018 - 11:36pm.

List of Massachusetts stores -- which no longer includes Cambridge.

By Ron Newman on Sat, 10/13/2018 - 10:05pm.

A sales associate tonight told me that clearance sale signs have been up for a week or so, but the Store Closing signs went up on Thursday. The good news is that they won't have to open at midnight on Black Friday, but will instead be open normal hours. The store will close on or before December 7.

This store has never been on any publicly released list of closing stores, but it is closing.

By anon on Sat, 10/13/2018 - 10:05pm.

I'm not surprised. I do hope they find another anchor store quickly. Perhaps Amazon?

By anon on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 10:47am.

Maybe Macy's could expand.

By Ron Newman on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 9:18pm.

Macy's already occupies two disconnected spaces (former Filene's and former Borders), and Sears is not connected to either of those.

By E on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 8:14pm.

At the Northshore Mall, the original Filene's is now Macy's and the former Lord & Taylor (disconnected from Macy's) contains the Macy's Mens' and Furniture departments.

By BostonDog on Sat, 10/13/2018 - 10:19pm.

I noticed the Staples at the Landmark center (Fenway) is closing soon. Of course, unlike Sears are plenty others.

By anon on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 11:59am.

that Staples was clutch when I was at BU, but between everyone switching to digital calendars/note taking/class portals and Target opening a block away selling common office supplies for cheap, I can't see how that Staples is needed any more.

By ElizaLeila on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 7:47am.

That area may still need something like that. So maybe FedEx or UPS store will go in with a print shop attached?

By anon on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 7:57pm.

Ironically, the landmark center was originally a sears.

By Charles Bahne on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 6:03pm.

The "Landmark Center" was a Sears distribution warehouse; I think there were only a few of those in the country. It did have a relatively small retail store for clearance items only, damaged goods, one of a kind, and so on. The one time I visited it, I didn't find it of much use for general shopping; what they had was too much catch what you can. I'm told that bargain hunters loved it; but you couldn't go there looking for a pair of men's pants in size 36 long.

By David Plantz on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 2:56am.

Staples closing at Landmark is likely related to the renovations at Landmark Center. I wonder if they are going to move it close by or just close.

By Ron Newman on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 8:29am.

When it opened, the CambreidgeSide Galleria had Lechmere, Filene's, and Sears as its anchors. A year or two after Lechmere closed, Best Buy took its place. Macy's bought and rebranded Filene's.

By Vicki on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 8:57am.

The "everything must go" signs have been up for at least the last few weeks, based on when I noticed them.

My partner said something about the store going out of business: we used to live in New York City, which has a law limiting the use of such signs, in response to dodgy rug and camera shops that ran "going out of business" "sales" for literally years*. I don't know whether there's a similar law here, but I pointed out that the signs didn't actually say the store was going out of business, and large "EVERYTHING MUST GO" signs that let you guess at the reason wouldn't technically be in violation. And now it seems they were just premature.

*To advertise a "going out of business" sale in New York, a store has to get, and display, a license from the city, with the closing date. A business doesn't actually need permission to close, of course--just permission to advertise a closing sale.

By anon on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 9:23am.

When the Downtown Crossing Filene's closed, the going out of business sale went on forever. They moved everything to the first floor only, and the once elegant place looked like a warehouse, but new merchandise kept appearing on a regular basis for months and months. I got a couple of great deals.

By maine on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 1:18pm.

Madison Mattress in Madison Maine had a going out of business,everything must go sale for 3 years. .

By cybah on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 1:29pm.

When Filenes was closing downtown it became an 'outlet' center for a lot. I think their parent started to use it as a way to dump old merchandise so it remained "going out of business' for a while, far longer than what was in the store.

By anon on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 10:50am.

Does that mean you can haggle down the price?

By JenF on Tue, 10/23/2018 - 9:11pm.

I was able to haggle down the price of my gas dryer when Burlington Sears was going out of business. Originally $700 they wanted $450 but they thought the display model was the last one. I told him I wasn't paying that for a floor model so he offered 10% off and I said no. Then he offered 20% off and I said I'd have to think about it because I would need to clean out my car to fit it so I would come back tomorrow. Then he offered an additional 10% on top of that if I paid that day and came back and got it the next day. So I ended up paying $324 plus tax. I'm sure he makes commission that's why he was willing to do whatever necessary to make the sale. I went back the next day and they gave me a brand new one in the box, apparently they didn't know they had more.

By cybah on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 1:26pm.

I mean.. its sad Sears is closing but its time to put that store out of its misery.

No one shops there. I haven't, and when I tried to, good luck finding a sales associate or something you want actually in stock.

No wonder Sears is going under (along with all its other issues)

Finally, the folks who run the mall can put that space into much better use. Maybe they can connect it to the Food Court, expand it and build an outside terrace (like One Canal Park did), and make the upper two floors a new retail tenant. OR at a minimum find a new anchor (i.e Target)

By anon on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 1:44pm.

They had a wide variety of sizes, colors and styles of men's Levis, which I wear. Most other places do not. I usually resort to buying them online. In fact, when buying them online I have also used Sears. I'm sorry to see it go.

By anon on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 8:32am.

They had a wide variety of sizes, colors and styles of men's Levis

you do know that amazon and levi's website has all configurations of jeans available?

Once you know your size, just scroll through all the colors and styles.

By anon on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 5:11pm.

Well I shop there (or I did). It's one of a handful of places around (and accessible by the T) with reasonably-priced clothes for someone over 30. TJMaxx, Marshall's, Kohl's are others that come to mind, but I will really miss Sears.

By Muerl on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 10:06pm.

The only time I ever went into there I was mostly frustrated that it was not connected on the first floor and I had to upstairs to get into the mall ...

By City resident on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 1:09am.

If anyone has seen the city target in Fenway...that could be a model. It is geared toward a 2 story city set up and includes a grocery section. This area of Cambridge has a lot of residents (and the number is growing) but no grocery place that's super close and accessible.

By anon on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 9:25am.

There's a Star Market literally right on the other side of Cambridge Street.

By Ron Newman on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 1:25pm.

Google map says 0.6 miles, 13 minute walk.

By City resident on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 7:13pm.

FYI...in Fenway there is a star market literally across the street from the target. Both are surviving. Years ago Kendall and east Cambridge didn't have that many residents...now that has changed. Here it is definitely not so close.

By Ron Newman on Tue, 10/16/2018 - 7:33am.

This will also exist in Porter Square, starting tomorrow.

By cybah on Tue, 10/16/2018 - 12:02pm.

Where did the move in Porter? The Galleria? (where Unos was?)

By Ron Newman on Tue, 10/16/2018 - 12:46pm.

Where Pier One Imports, Blockbuster Video, and later Walgreens were, as well as part of the former Uno's.

By Robert H on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 2:24pm.

Given the concentration of high income earners in adjacent Kendall Square, there should be no lack of retailers to fill the space; maybe a Nordstrom, Target, or carve up the space for other brands.

By Ron Newman on Sun, 10/14/2018 - 8:57pm.

They are closing at Providence Place, where they were an original anchor tenant.

By Waquiot on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 9:02am.

There's a bit of a difference between downtown Providence and Kendall Square.

By ElizaLeila on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 7:53am.

Might actually be a selling point to more than just a retail tenant. Could open it up to offices especially with the parking right there to rent out.

By Ron Newman on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 10:52pm.

Just posted to BostonGlobe.com (and probably in tomorrow's printed paper):

Downfall of Sears may boost a major development project at CambridgeSide

By ElizaLeila on Tue, 10/16/2018 - 8:58am.

I was just spitballing. Must be luck plus knowing that building and the building owner (New England Development). And watching what is happening throughout the area with mixed use spaces.

Little history: I think you know that the Lechmere that was once at CambridgeSide Galleria was 2 stories. It almost wasn't: getting the retailer on board with the concept took some doing but they eventually saw that it could be done successfully. The design team traveled all over showing proof of concept to the retailer. I'm not certain how much convincing New England Development needed. They might have been equally skeptical. But it was a small footprint and out of the box ideas were needed.

EDIT: I just read the article. Didn't realize that the Sears space was owned by a different company, out of Colorado. OK, it's more than New England Development changing ways in retail development. Actually - the next thought process is designing parking garages that can be changed into other uses when individual car / vehicle use goes down. Forward thinking!

By Ron Newman on Tue, 10/16/2018 - 9:22pm.

wasn't it 3 stories? The two now occupied by Best Buy, plus what's now the Macy's annex above?

By ElizaLeila on Tue, 10/16/2018 - 4:23pm.

I honestly don't remember. :/

By Ron Newman on Mon, 10/15/2018 - 10:20am.

A document filed with the bankruptcy court lists the 142 stores that Sears and Kmart plan to close. The list starts on page 48, and the column you want to look at is the last one, "Property Address". The only one in Massachusetts (found by searching the document for the string ", MA") is at the Natick Mall.