Sears has had a troubled relationship with its suppliers over the past two years. Last year, the company sued a couple of them, as Sears aggressively sought to protect its interests and those suppliers tried to protect their own from a retailer that looked very much on the brink.
More problematically, in past years and months, suppliers scaled down shipments to Sears and tightened credit terms. In the two weeks before Sears entered Chapter 11, as rumors of a possible filing emerged, 200 vendors stopped or refused to ship to Sears, according to the company.
