FILE PHOTO: Workers remove a sign from the outside of a Sears department store one day after it closed as part of multiple store closures by Sears Holdings Corp in the United States in Nanuet, New York, U.S., January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Workers remove a sign from the outside of a Sears department store in Nanuet, New York.
Reuters
sears shopper
A Sears customer shops for appliances in 2003.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Walmart's sales increased by 26%. Sears' sales only increased by 1%. The company's sales for 1990 were $31.9 billion.

Sears discontinued its famous catalog in 1993. The company spun out its largest subsidiary, the Allstate Corporation, in 1995.

The company began offering car and electronic repair services in order to attract more customers.

Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of 4x3 (4)
Kmart, Sears, and Lands' End.
Colin McConnell/Toronto Star/James Leynse/Corbis/Tim Boyle/Getty Images

The early 2000s saw several changes. Lands' End was purchased by Sears in 2002. Sears sold its credit-card business to Citigroup in order to concentrate on retail. The credit-card business accounted for more than half of Sears' annual profits.

Sears and Kmart merged in 2005 to become the second largest retailer in the US behind Walmart.

Eddie Lampert, a hedge fund manager, is the chairman of the newly formed Sears Holding Corporation.

edward eddie lampert
Eddie Lampert.
Reuters

Sears sued the former CEO and others, claiming they stole billions of dollars from the retailer.

Sears accused Lampert of protecting his hedge fund's stake in Lands' End by turning down Tommy Hilfiger's offer to buy the store. The spinoff of Lands' End that did not benefit Sears was one of the accusations made in the suit.

More than $2 billion of assets were transferred to himself and Sears' other shareholders by Lampert. The allegations were called "misleading or just flat wrong" by the company.

An agreement to resolve the litigation was approved by a court. According to Retail Dive, Sears and the other defendants did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Features Sears Rise and fall