Wards continued to lose money, and GE ran out of patience. In the end, only about 30 percent of Wards' stores were completely renovated. What it takes to succeed in today's retail world sounds simple, but it isn't, experts say. A store must stand for something in consumers' minds, and it must be the first or second place they will shop for an item. If you're No. 3 on the list, time-pressed shoppers will never get to you, they add.
Some retailers are able to pull it off.
Wal-Mart clearly stands for low prices. Kohl's stands for affordable fashion. Neiman Marcus Group stands for luxury clothing and accessories. In the end, Wards didn't stand for anything, retail experts say. And it was the right, but painful choice, they conclude, to put an ailing retailer out of its misery.