Sears Is Closing Another 43 Stores
Here we go again.
on Friday announced a new round of store closings, this one involving 43 locations. The company framed the move as a strategic decision, one that will aid in its hoped-for return to profitability.
The retailer, which operates the Sears department stores and Kmart discount chain, has already announced 265 closings this fiscal year. The latest paring of the fleet will leave the company with 1,140 stores, barely more than half the number of stores it operated in 2012. In this latest round of shutterings, 35 Kmart stores and eight Sears stores will close. (See list below.)
That’s likely not the last of it, either. In a blog post, company CEO Eddie Lampert said more closings are coming.
In May, Sears reported disastrous first quarter results, with comparable sales down 12.4% at Sears, and 11.2% at Kmart in the first quarter. The disappointing sales numbers weren’t new — Sears lost about $10 billion in the last six years — but there are signs the retailer is reaching a crisis point. Earlier this year, the company implemented a $1.25 billion cost-cutting plan, and acknowledged fears it could very well go bankrupt.
“We have fought hard for many years to return unprofitable stores to a competitive position and to preserve jobs,” Lampert wrote in the blog post. “As a result, we had to absorb corresponding losses in the process. So, it is obvious that we don’t make decisions to close stores lightly.”
Lampert, a hedge fund manager who engineered the merger of Kmart and Sears in 2004, has long touted his work to reposition the company in response to large-scale shifts in the retail industry. (In his estimation, this means less physical space, as customers now expect more focused, edited assortments, and a focus on membership-based shopping.)
In recent years, Sears’ has moved to protect its cash pile by spinning off its best properties into a real estate investment trust, as well as subleasing and leasing store space. The rationale is that smaller, focused stores are more relevant to today’s shoppers. Sears recently opened a small store in Texas focused on mattresses and appliances, part of a new format the company is testing.
It’s questionable that an additional 43 stores and experimenting with new store formats will be enough to move the needle for a retailer with 1,000 locations. Indeed, Sears has closed hundreds of weak stores in the last few years, yet comparable sales – a metric that strips out the impact of newly closed or open stores- have continued to relentlessly fall.
Here are the stores involved in the latest round of closures:
Kmart
104 Highway 31 North Athens AL
635 Skyland Blvd Tuscaloosa AL
3340 E Andy Devine Ave Kingman AZ
2526 W Northern Avenue Phoenix AZ
4325 Broadway Eureka CA
7200 Arlington Avenue Riverside CA
12412 U S 19 Hudson FL
4717 South Florida Avenue Lakeland FL
20505 South Dixie Hwy Miami FL
8245 N Florida Ave Tampa FL
2500 Airport Thruway Columbus GA
1300 S Madison Avenue Douglas GA
W-201 Neider Road Coeur D’Alene ID
2828 N Broadway Anderson IN
2520 Nicholasville Road Lexington KY
2760 Frederica Street Owensboro KY
140 Whalon Street Fitchburg MA
1277 Liberty Street Springfield MA
801 N Lincoln Road Escanaba MI
1290 N Monroe Street Monroe MI
1515 W Bell Street Glendive MT
1000 3Rd Street Nw Great Falls MT
2975 E Sahara Blvd Las Vegas NV
200 S Washington St Herkimer NY
601 Woodman Dr Dayton OH
12501 Rockside Rd Garfield Heights OH
1801 W Alexis Road Toledo OH
501 S E Washington Blvd Bartlesville OK
2323-2327 N Harrison Shawnee OK
4401 Buffalo Road Erie PA
2011 Hoffmeyer Road Florence SC
732 Old Hickory Blvd Jackson TN
4670 S 900 East Salt Lake City UT
3533 Franklin Road S W Roanoke VA
2450 Foothill Blvd Rock Springs WY
Sears
1607 36Th Street Peru IL
757 E Lewis & Clark Pkwy Clarksville IN
154 28B W Hively Ave Elkhart IN
120 Us Highway 41 Schererville IN
2310 E Kansas Ave Garden City KS
6945 Us Route 322 Cranberry PA
3060 Clarksville Street Paris TX
7630 Pershing Blvd Kenosha WI
See original article on Fortune.com
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