What: Sears quietly disappears

Why it is important: it dangerously hurts the overall health of shopping centers

Transformco, the owner of the Sears and Kmart banners, is moving to close more stores after years of steady retrenchment. Sears stopped issuing official store closure announcements two years ago. After the October 2018 bankruptcy filing by its parent company, Sears has continued on its path to retail oblivion.

End of January, Sears quietly posted “temporary store closing” positions at 10 of its remaining locations on the company’s website.

Sears Holdings began 2019 with 489 full-line Sears department stores in operation. Today, that figure drops to just 36 locations after this latest round of closings.

It’s unknown how much longer Sears can continue in its present state. Online reviews for the 36 remaining Sears stores include comments such as, “kind of empty,” “this place looks bare,” and “looks like they could fill up the store with some inventory.”

Forbes: Sears closes 10 more stores

Retail Dive: Sears closes 13 more stores

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