Forbes: Inside Sears Hometown Stores’ War With Its Local Entrepreneurs
WRAL: Sears struggling with customer service complaints
Fox Business: Sears’ pension liabilities may be a thorn in Kenmore sale
CNNMoney: Eddie Lampert offers to buy Kenmore for $400-million
TCPAland: Sears Misses out on Millions in TCPA Settlement Funds
Wall Street Journal: Sears Franchise Owners Get Caught in Retailer’s Woes
24/7 Wall St: How Sears Is Branching Out in E-Commerce
New York Business Journal: In the ‘Blink’ of an eye, your local Sears is now a gym
ARIZONA: Flagstaff Mall Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving.
CALIFORNIA: 64 employees of the Clovis Kmart arrived at work only to find out they’re being shutdown, the only thing local news media was told was that the Kmart would shutdown in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. It’s been revealed that the still active Manchester Center Sears store, in Fresno, has leased out half its active space to an unnamed retailer, who will occupy the north half of the building by Summer 2019. The real estate agency handling the deal also revealed that active Sears store downsizing efforts are taking place with the Sequoia Mall, in Visalia, and at the Merced Mall. All stores are owned by Sears Holdings’ REIT spin-off (and Warren Buffett funded) Seritage Growth Properties. Spring Valley Kmart, Antioch Kmart and Los Angeles Kmart (on West 3rd) all shutting down by Thanksgiving, 152 jobs killed according to WARN (Worker Adjustment Retraining Notice)! Capitola Mall Sears store in Santa Cruz shutting down by Thanksgiving.
COLORADO: Grand Junction Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving.
CONNECTICUT: Milford Kmart shutting down by Thanksgiving.
DELAWARE: Newark Kmart shutting down by Thanksgiving.
FLORIDA: University Square Mall Sears, the Doral-Miami Sears store and Auto Center (86 jobs gone by Thanksgiving) and the Naples Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving. Neptune Beach leaders shoot down controversial redevelopment plans for vacant Kmart
GEORGIA: Sears stores and Auto Centers in Savannah (Oglethorpe Mall), Atlanta (Cumberland Mall) and Brunswick shutting down by Thanksgiving.
IDAHO: The Sears Hometown Store in Moscow is for sale, a very incomplete local news report gave no details.
ILLINOIS: Steger Kmart and Bloomington Sears and Auto Center (East Empire Street) shutting down by Thanksgiving. The 16 years vacant Lake Zurich Kmart is being torn down by the property owner, under threat of a taxpayer funded court order. The Kmart property owner apparently promised to redevelop the property in 2017, claiming it would turn it into a massive apartment/retail shops complex. The city is demanding construction on the massive complex must start by March 2019.
Chicago Tribune: Stanley, Sears to have competing Craftsman tool brands
INDIANA: On Coldwater Road the Fort Wayne Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving. After five years the Anderson Sears Hometown Store shutting down, the owner saying “I have just reached a point being here for five years and asking for another five years, that’s a big risk.”
KENTUCKY: Florence Sears shutting down by Thanksgiving.
LOUISIANA: Hammond Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving. The still active Clearview Shopping Center Sears store and Auto Center, in New Orleans, was just purchased by the family owners of the mall. The Sears store will supposedly continue operating, but will be reduced in size as most of the 14 acre Sears space will be carved up into smaller retail shops.
MARYLAND: The Westfield Montgomery Sears store, in Bethesda, shutting down in March 2019. The store was bought by the mall owner last year, for $105-million USD, their plan is to tear it down and replace it with a multitude of smaller brick-n-mortar shops.
MASSACHUSETTS: Holyoke and Taunton Sears stores and Auto Centers shutting down by Thanksgiving.
MICHIGAN: Jackson Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving.
MISSISSIPPI: Columbus Kmart shutting down by Thanksgiving.
MISSOURI: Cape Girardeau Kmart shutting down by Thanksgiving.
NORTH CAROLINA: Raleigh-Crabtree Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: Salem and Manchester Sears stores and Auto Centers shutting down by Thanksgiving.
NEW JERSEY: Mays Landing Sears store and Auto Center shutting down, 63 jobs gone by Thanksgiving.
NEW YORK: Riverhead Kmart, as well as Queensbury-Glens Falls, New Hyde Park and Victor Sears stores and Auto Centers shutting down by Thanksgiving.
OHIO: Dayton and Cincinnati-Northgate Sears stores and Auto Centers shutting down by Thanksgiving. The 23 years old Chillicothe Kmart/Little Caesar’s Pizza shutting down by the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, local news media said they were alerted to the shutdown when customers were being told that layaways were halted. It was also discovered that the Kmart property had been sold at the end of July to Rural King Realty for $4.7-million USD.
OREGON: Happy Valley-Portland Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving.
PENNSYLVANIA: Store closing signs confirmed that the McMurray Kmart is shutting down in October, employees were told last month, but also were told not to tell anybody. After more than 20 years, the Pine Township Sears Hometown Store shutdown at the end of July, no reason was given.
TENNESSEE: The taxpayers of Clarksville being forced to give a property developer a tax abatement incentive (amount undisclosed at this time) to redevelop property that has a vacant Kmart on it. The developer is promising that 427 new jobs will be created.
TEXAS: Houston-Memorial and College Station-Bryan Sears stores and Auto Centers shutting down by Thanksgiving.
UTAH: West Jordan Sears shutting down by Thanksgiving.
VIRGINIA: Fairfax Sears shutting down by Thanksgiving.
WASHINGTON: Vancouver Mall Sears store and Auto Center shutting down by Thanksgiving. The Sears Hometown Store in Toppenish suddenly shutdown, the owners said they couldn’t renew the lease and will focus on their stores in Sunnyside, and in Hood River (Oregon).
WEST VIRGINIA: Scott Depot Kmart shutting down by Thanksgiving. Kmart used flooding as excuse to layoff employees at Crossings Mall in Elkview, according to lawsuit.
WISCONSIN: Eau Claire and La Crosse (Valley View Mall) Sears stores and Auto Centers shutting down by Thanksgiving. The five years old Appleton (Grand Chute) Sears Outlet store shutdown on the 19th, the owner didn’t say why, only that he was consolidating the remaining inventory to his new store in Germantown.
WYOMING: Gillette Kmart shutting down by Thanksgiving.
Sears-Kmart death spiral, July 2018: “THIS WAS THE SLOWEST ICEBERG HIT.”