Sears to close another 20 U.S. stores

By

Susan Spies

Published
Jun 23, 2017

A regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday by Seritage Growth Properties, the real estate spin-off of Sears Holdings Corporation, confirmed the closing of another 18 Sears stores and two K-Mart stores by October 2017.

Store liquidations will begin June 30 and the store locations vacated by October, the company said in a statement. The new closings will bring the total store closures to 260 for this year, which leaves over another 1,100 K-Mart and Sears stores still open for business.

Once the largest retailer in the U.S., Sears Holding Corp. warned in March in its annual report about its ability to continue as a going concern. The retailer has been selling off chunks of its business to shore up finances, such as its Craftsmen brand to Stanley Black & Decker this winter. But despite a few waves of store closings and job cuts, its sales continue to decline as it tries to catch up in e-commerce and how to reinvent its in-store experience.

Seritage Growth Properties is made up largely 235 Sears and Kmart stores, part of a 2015 deal under which real estate holdings were converted into an REIT, raising $2 billion in funds for the corporation. The agreement between Sears Holding Corp. and Seritage allows for Sears to pay one year's rent and one year of operation expenses as an exit fee for stores that are not profitable.