A veteran Canadian retail consultant says Sears Canada didn't have to close down its operations and could have stayed alive if the company adopted a unique and innovative strategy. Mark Healy, a Toronto-based consultant in investment banking, real estate and retail, was a Canadian Tire franchise owner for 20 years and says Sears could have taken a look at creating a system of franchise ownership similar to Canadian Tire. "About a year and a half ago, I tried to get ahold of Sears," says Healy. "They were changing CEOs every two years." "I was thinking of my Canadian Tire days and how the system works but I'm thinking a lot of the stores at Sears were catalogue stores or actually dealer stores. So my thinking was with regards to Sears to save it you franchise the stores just like the Canadian Tire model." Sears Canada closed all its remaining stores in the country in mid-January. At one point in time, the company, which began operations in Canada in 1953, had 190 stores and well over 15,000 employees.