Less than a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announcing the closure of nearly 150 stores throughout the country, Sears Holdings has announced it will close 40 more Sears and Kmart stores by February 2019.
Among the stores to be closed as part of the latest wave are two Kmart stores in Illinois, one at 3443 W. Addison St. in Chicago and one in Springfield. Liquidation sales at those stores and the rest of the latest wave of closures announced on Nov. 8 begin this week.
Liquidation sales are already under way at the 142 Sears and Kmart stores that were targeted for closure on Oct. 15. Those stores will close their doors at the end of 2018.
The Sears store and its auto center at the North Riverside Park Mall in North Riverside remain open for normal business as the company continues its restructuring.
In the not-too-distant past, in 2005 when Sears and Kmart merged to form Sears Holdings, the company operated some 3,500 Sears and Kmart stores. By the end of February, as the company has shed locations in the intervening years, Sears Holdings will be down to about 500 stores.
According to Reuters, Sears Holdings is still attempting to secure loans to allow it to keep stores open through the holiday shopping season and that the company had until Dec. 15 to name a stalking-horse bidder for its most profitable stores.
— Bob Uphues
