This article in the New York Times reports that Nike has decided to stop selling its shoes and clothing at Sears. The speculation is that Nike is afraid of having its brand end up at whatever types of low-end stores emerge from the Sears/Kmart merger.
I actually think this is a great move by Nike. They’re protecting their brand. Many brands have been hurt by the get-our-stuff-into-big-box-retailers-at-all-costs mentality. Sometimes, exclusivity pays off. (The opposite here is Levi’s, which you can buy at Wal-Mart now.)
And as an aside, I think Kmart’s troubles are all Rain Man’s fault. He had the best tagline of all time:
“Kmart sucks.”
