There's a lot of redundancy in these stores. If the idea of this merger is to make these department stores more similar to each other, that won't add value to consumers, ... Consumers want differentiation and variety in products. Price isn't their only consideration.

My personal feeling is if the complexity becomes difficult for me, I frequently will pass off part of my decision to some trusted adviser or rely on an expert recommendation.

It's not so much that Sears and Kmart did anything wrong, it's just that they didn't change while the rest of the industry was changing around them.