Sears Death Watch

Sears’ sales have declined every year since hedge funder Edward Lampert built Sears Holdings out of a combination of the old Sears and Kmart department store chains, and now comes another blow as CIT Group declares it will no longer lend to Sears suppliers to finance the delivery of goods for sale in the store. The action is not, on its own, a death sentence for Sears, but if it scares more firms off, it could set a spiral of doom into motion. Several famous big-box retail chain names have perished during the recession, and Sears could well join Borders and Circuit City in the land of departed firms some day soon.