Around 50 Sears, Kmart Stores to Close Earlier Than Planned

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Attention Sears and Kmart shoppers: Your favorite store may soon close.

Sears Holdings — the parent company of both stores — “will accelerate the closing of unprofitable stores, including, but not limited to, roughly 50 stores that we recently announced would be closing in the next few months,” according to the company.

The struggling company’s latest financial update bears more bad news. For the fourth quarter of 2015, comparable-store sales fell by 6.9 percent at Sears and 7.2 percent at Kmart. For the 2015 year, they fell by 11.1 percent at Sears and 7.3 percent at Kmart.

The Associated Press reports that the comparable-store sales figure is “a key indicator of a retailer’s health because it excludes the volatility from stores recently opened or closed.”

Sears Holdings explains in a news release issued Tuesday:

The holiday selling season proved to be challenging, with historically warm weather and intense competition pressuring margins and driving comparable store sales declines, particularly in our apparel and related softlines businesses.

Sears Holdings’ announcement did not include a list of closing stores. However, last month, the Consumerist identified many stores slated to close by compiling local news reports.

The Sears locations that the Consumerist identified as closing are:

  • Missoula, Montana (Sears and Auto Center)
  • Sangertown Square, New Hartford, New York (Sears and Auto Center)
  • Sikes Senter Mall, Wichita Falls, Texas (Sears and Auto Center)
  • Staten Island Mall, Staten Island, New York (Sears Auto Center only)
  • Mount Berry Mall, Rome, Georgia (Sears and Auto Center)
  • Birchwood Mall, Fort Gratiot, Michigan (Sears and Auto Center)
  • San Mateo, California

Close to 50 Kmart locations are slated to close, according to the Consumerist’s research. The full list is available here.

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