Sears Holdings announced that 43 more Sears and Kmart locations would close this year, making the total closings for the year 236.
Two-hundred and 40 stores were closed in 2016 and 53 in 2015 in an effort to stem the losses the company has seen since 2010 and get back to profitability, CNN Money reported.
Sears Holdings will have closed about 20 percent of their locations in 2017, and is down to 1,140 stores from a high of 2,073 just five years ago, Business Insider reported.
“This is part of a strategy both to address losses from unprofitable stores and to reduce the square footage of other stores because many of them are simply too big for our current needs,” Sears CEO Eddie Lampert blogged about the closures, Business Insider reported.
The company is also making efforts to boost digital sales and testing out smaller concept stores that will sell only certain popular items, CNN Money reported. Sears said in March that it had “substantial doubt” that it could successfully remain in business; it has lost more than $10 billion since 2012.
Other department store chains including Macy’s and JCPenney have also closed stores and laid off employees in 2017. A total of 5,300 retail store closings have been announced this year, think tank Fung Global Retail & Technology estimated, CNN Money reported.
Some on Twitter thought the retail giant ought to just fade into oblivion while others lamented the last location close to them closing down.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.