Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears will provide members of its Shop Your Way loyalty program access to many Black Friday deals one full week before Thanksgiving, on Sears.com from 6 p.m. on Nov. 20 until 11:59 p.m. (CT) on Nov. 21. During this online member-exclusive pre-sale event, members can log on to their Shop Your Way account during the sale to access the deals. On Thanksgiving Day, Sears stores will open at 6 p.m. with more than 1,000 doorbuster deals on the most popular gifts of the season, through 1 p.m. local time on Black Friday.

In what can't be qualified as surprising news, Sears Holdings Corp announced this morning that it will close more than 100 stores across the country and lay off upwards of 5,500 employees. At least 46 Kmart stores, 30 Sears department stores and 31 Sears Auto Centers are scheduled to close before the end of January. This is just the latest in a series of moves that Sears has made as it fights to keep its head above water.

Sears deepening financial troubles have forced insurers and banks to raise the cost of guaranteeing payment to vendors, rattling the retailer's supply chain as the company heads into the key holiday season. The move by these financial intermediaries — an opaque but vital quarter of the retail business where makers of goods ranging from apparel to TVs seek to insure they get paid — comes in the wake of unusual steps Sears has taken to raise cash for operations. In the past three weeks, the retailer twice has turned to its CEO Eddie Lampert's hedge fund for a cash infusion.

Sears, sorely in need of cash, is selling most of its stake in its Canadian unit in an effort to raise up to $380 million. The sale of the majority of its 51 percent stake in Sears Canada Inc. to its own shareholders will give the retailer some breathing room as it heads into the crucial holiday season. The company board approved a rights offering of up to 40 million shares of Sears Canada Inc. Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert plans to fully exercise his subscription rights. 

Sears Holdings Co. is getting a $400 million secured short-term loan from the hedge fund of its chief executive, Eddie Lampert, with real estate as collateral, the company said Monday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The loan, half of which was funded Monday and the other half at the end of this month, will come due at the end of this year, though the maturity date can be extended to Feb. 28 as long as there's no event of default. 

Three retailers have been named "geniuses," and it may not be who you expected (well, at least one of the companies). L2, a business benchmarking service, awarded Nordstrom, Macy's and Sears "genius status," the highest honor of a five-tiered ranking system in its recent Digital IQ Index: Department Stores. Macy's and Nordstrom have been ranked highly in the past, however, I have to admit, I was surprised to see ailing retailer Sears join them at the top of the list. Over the last few months, we've heard reports of Sears closing multiple storefronts as well as management issues. Just this past week it was reported that the company probably won't last past the 2016 fiscal year. So how did Sears earn the title of "genius"?

Clothing retailer Lands’ End is set to spin off from Sears Holdings Corp. on April 4, according to an amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing provides the timeline and details of the tax-free distribution, which will turn the profitable Lands’ End business into a stand-alone, publicly traded company. On March 24, stakeholders in Sears will receive about .3 shares of Lands’ End common stock, according to the filing.

For most companies, Twitter provides a place for self-promotion, a vehicle for customer engagement. For Sears, Twitter often spotlights the company's failure. Not the standard somebody erred in judgment and tweeted something offensive failure, but the organization-wide attitudinal and operational failure that defines Sears. Over the weekend, I was in Toronto. While on Yonge Street by the Eaton Centre, I snapped pictures of the Sears store that, at one time, anchored this mall. Now the store's empty, leaving a hole in the heart of Toronto, literally and figuratively.

Sears Holdings’ CEO Eddie Lampert strongly defended his company in his annual letter to shareholders, saying not only does he believe Sears is headed in the right direction, but that "the entire retail industry is headed to where we already are." The letter was released yesterday, the same day the retailer released its fourth quarter and fiscal year results. Sears lost $1.36 billion last year as sales continued to fall and it closed stores as part of its plan to transform itself into a "member centric" retailer.

Cold weather has been blamed for a lot of bad economic data this year, including retailers’ weak sales. After all, it's easier to stay home and order everything online. But for shoppers who still make the effort to drive to stores, retailers are trying to make the process a little more rewarding. Sears has introduced a drive-through shopping option: if you buy something online and choose to pick it up at the store, you don't have to leave the warmth of your car. In five minutes or less, a store associate will bring your shopping cart out to you.