Sears is closing 63 more stores

Sears Holdings is shuttering another round of stores, the retailer’s employees learned on Thursday. But those doors won’t be closed until after the holidays.

The latest list of store closures includes 45 Kmart locations and 18 Sears boxes. Closings are expected to begin in late January of next year. Meantime, liquidation sales will begin as early as Nov. 9.

“Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base and will continue to right size our store footprint in number and size,” a memo reads on the company’s website.

“In the process, as previously announced we will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members,” Sears said.

The embattled department store chain has been looking for ways to keep its core businesses afloat. Those initiatives include selling off in-house brands, seeking loans from Sears’ CEO, Eddie Lampert, and recently teaming up with Amazon to market Sears’ Kenmore appliances.

Assets sales, for Sears, could be another source of operating cash.
In Sears’ latest quarter, same-store sales tumbled more than 11 percent, as total revenue fell to $4.37 billion, from $5.66 billion, and was driven lower because of recent store closures, according to the company.

In turn, Sears is testing smaller store formats across the U.S., and in some cases moving to occupy a pint-sized portion of a bigger box, as mall operators look to redevelop their properties.

Sears shares were falling about 3 percent Friday morning, and are down more than 40 percent in 2017.

CNBC
11/3/2107