Social Media “People Watcher” Turns Blogger

Nov

05

2009

I’m SHC-MichelleH. 

A thirty something, mom with one rambunctious 5-year-old daughter, a wonderfully supportive husband, a loving calico cat and a beta fish that fights with rocks. I’m also a budget conscious, working woman in grad school with absolutely no time for myself! I look for great bargains and anything that will make my life a little easier.  

 

I am not really a social media geek as much as I am a social media “people watcher.” I interject into conversations when necessary, but for the most part, I sit back and observe what others are saying. I do have Facebook and Twitter accounts because I love the brevity those mediums provide, but you typically won’t catch me blogging…until now!

 

Sears changed me. I am new to Sears Holdings Corporation (and the MySears Community) and have been an occasional Sears shopper for more than 20 years. While exploring Sears.com my first several weeks here, I realized that Sears provides an extremely robust online shopping experience. I totally appreciate the convenient tools they provide such as TV MatchMaker, Shoe Finder and Appliance Advisor. Anything to make my life a little easier is good news!

 

Check back soon, because I'll be blogging about a lot of interesting things, including life, love and Sears!  

But if you can't wait until then, check out the TV MatchMaker! It will help you find the perfect TV! I love it!

 

 

Sears Hometown Shop Talk – Holiday Shopping Tips

Sep

29

2009

Is it really too early to think about the holidays? Many of us would say “yes” it is. But, reality hits. The temperature in Chicago drops from 75 degrees to 54 degrees with 25 miles per hour wind gusts, my girls ask about Halloween costumes, my parents want to know Thanksgiving plans and now the holiday season is closer than I realize.

 

I ask myself how can I make holiday shopping easier and save myself the stress and anxiety of picking up last minute gifts.  We all know it is never fun picking a gift from the holiday gift leftovers. So, I gave myself the task of planning early and in my research I found some great tips.

 

First, make a list. I know it sounds so simple since 82% of us are doing it today and it is the easiest way to get started.

 

Second, set a budget (and don’t forget to save your change). In a time when many of us are being careful with our spending it is important to set a budget and see value in the budget. 

Then I realized there is a great budgeting tool available to me and everyone else this holiday season.  Why didn’t I think of this sooner?  It is the  Sears Christmas Club Card.  You can find the card at any Sears Hometown Store and it pays me back.  I can start saving today and place money on the card weekly either by stopping in the store or on-line plus Sears will pay me a 3% reward on the money I save.  Now I know I am way too busy when I didn’t think of this sooner. I will be starting my savings today.

Another great tip is to get the “easy” gifts out of the way early with Sears Layaway. My grandma always said it was the smartest way to shop. Gifts to the paper boy, teachers, and your boss don’t need to come out of your holiday budget for the family. So how can I do that without breaking the bank? First, my $500 holiday budget is now 3% higher (thank you Christmas Club Card savings program). Second, because Sears Hometown Stores has layaway, I can pick out all the gifts I need, pay for them over an 8 week timeframe, and have them just when I need them. Look out Will (he’s my boss), your Craftsman hammerhead (the hottest gift in tool innovation) is going on layaway today. 

  

The most important holiday tip is to enjoy the season, family and time together.  I know it all sounds so simple but every now and then a few tips can help make the holidays easier.  When you are shopping and working on your holiday lists, please stop by your local retailers and share your favorite tip.  We would love to hear your feedback at Sears Hometown Stores.

About Me

My name is Keri Durkin and I am the Division Vice President for Merchandising, Planning and Assorting for Sears Hometown Stores, LLC. I am excited to see how far my budget will take me this holiday season.

About Sears Hometown Stores

 

Sears Hometown Stores are two Sears store formats located away from shopping malls. Hometown Store is locally owned and operated Sears stores and Home Appliance Showroom is the leader in home appliance shopping. Our friendly and knowledgeable store owners and showroom managers proudly serve your local community and offer you largest selection of home appliances, tool and lawn and garden equipment, and home electronics, exceptional customer service, best price guaranteed plus credit, delivery, installation and protection agreements.

 

Sears Hometown Stores established in 1993

www.SearsHomeTownStores.com

 

Sears Home Appliance Showroom established in 2007

www.SearsHomeApplianceShowroom.com

 

Sears in Spanish

http://espanol.sears.com

 

 

Newest Blue Electronics Crew Member: Brett Favre

Sep

11

2009

Here's the latest commercial featuring Brett Favre!

 

New Commercials: Sears makes it easy to "Shop Your Way"

Sep

03

2009

Take a look at some of our latest TV commercials. Pretty funny! Which one do you identify with? Which way do you like to shop (online, mobile, in the store, etc.)?

If you liked ‘A Few Good Men', ‘West Wing’, or ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’… Watch This!

Mar

26

2009

By: Ahin Thomas

I’ll admit it right now- I’m gonna spend the next 5 minutes (or so) of our life’s pitching you on a fantastic show called ‘Sports Night’. The reason why I wanted to get that out of the way is that I’m not the first one to advocate for the mass viewing of this unheralded show. In fact, it’s been written about in a few places that I know of. That said, to paraphrase the Sports Guy, it has not yet entered into the realm of ‘heralded’… which will then quickly lead to ‘overhyped’. So, until we move it into the vernacular, here’s one more impassioned attempt to get you involved. There’s still plenty of good seats available on the bandwagon, so c’mon in.

(and I’d like to pretend that your not gonna see more thinly veiled Sports Guy lines, but I don’t feel like lying to you).

Ok, so let’s back up a bit. ‘Sports Night’ was one of Aaron Sorkin’s first TV shows- he’s the guy that’s brought us ‘A Few Good Men’, ‘West Wing’, ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’. If you watch any of those, you’ll notice a very distinct and witty patter to the dialogue. It’s Seinfeld-esque with a bit of Thomas Crown thrown in for good measure. It’s the sort of stuff that made us like Lt. Caffey (Tom Cruise) and what made Pres. Bartlett (Martin Sheen)… well, presidential.

Look, if most of that last paragraph made sense to you, then ‘Sports Night’ quickly falls into ‘must-watch’. It came into play shortly after ‘A Few Good Men’, Sorkin had begun to hit his stride with the style. In it, we find a cast of extremely well-developed characters as the host a show that looks and feels more than a fair amount like ESPNs SportsCenter.

That said, the tagline for the show is ‘It's about sports. The same way Charlie's Angels was about law enforcement.’ Always entertaining, the show dealt cleverly with a myriad of issues that occur within any groups of colleagues, friends, and family.

Generally, a good review is one where I tease the show enough to get you interested enough to go watch it. I get that. Here’s the thing, with this one, there’s a reasonable likelihood that you haven’t even heard of it… so I’m reluctant to ruin the element of surprise here.

So, here’s what I leave you with. Think about Sorkin’s other (more famous) work- if you like that stuff, then this is can’t miss. And if you didn’t… well, it’s advisable to not berate one’s readers…