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Suave has nailed this.
Sears comes from is from the Sears & Roebuck Company or, simply Sears & Roebuck. Sears is the name of a person. However Company is a regular noun, like hammer or masturbation. When paired with "company" "Sears & Roebuck" becomes a possessive modifier, like "Dog" in "Dog House". When you have a regular noun, then "the" sounds correct tacked on in front of it. It's like the opposite of the personal "a" in Spanish. On the other hand, you can put "the" in front of a Proper name, like "The McCoy" (as in "the Real McCoy") as a matter of particularlizing it. It's pretty much hubris, but Americans and English are pretty arrogant people.
Suave has also got it right with Smashing Pumpkins. I think they should change their name to Smashing Pretentious Bald Geeks With Whiny Voices, and suit actions to words, but taste is simultaneously indefensible and unassailable. Nope, not particularly geeky at all. Or, at least, merely a grammar geek, and not The grammar geek.
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