Brian Sozzi One of 18 photos of scenes inside Sears stores that Brian Sozzi, chief executive of Belus Capital Advisors, posted on his blog to show the state of the stores. "It's just badness throughout," he said in an interview. "Every store has something fundamentally wrong with it."Updated, 8:46 p.m. | When Brian Sozzi, the chief executive of Belus Capital Advisors, visited Sears locations in New York and New Jersey this month, he said, he found barren shelves, haphazard displays and badly stained carpets.
Also missing: customers.
"It's just badness throughout," Mr. Sozzi said in an interview. "Every store has something fundamentally wrong with it."
Photos of the stores that Mr. Sozzi posted on his blog attracted more than a quarter-million views and captured the sentiments of customers dissatisfied with the company. The website Business Insider titled a post: "18 Depressing Photos That Show Why Nobody Wants To Shop At Sears."
Yet it is these core Sears stores that Edward S. Lampert, the hedge fund manager who is Sears's majority owner and chief executive, believes represent the future of the retailer.
To help raise cash for that future, Sears announced on Tuesday that it was looking to split off its Lands' End and Sears Auto Center brands, two of the company's best-known assets. It also said that Sears Canada, which it controls, had sold five store leases for $384 million.