26 more Sears/KMART stores closing

[giantsfan2016]

26 More Sears/KMART stores will be closing. The lone KMART and 1 1/2 Sears Stores in Connecticut are safe for now.

https://searsholdings.com/docs/080619_store_closing_list.pdf

[Zayre88]

Kmart will end up with less than 200 stores...  Sears barely above 200.

I don't think Sears and Kmart can be called national retailers anymore. Regional discount store Ames operated 327 stores when it went out of business. Even Shopko was bigger than Kmart in the end.

[TheFugitive]

1 1/2 Sears Stores in Connecticut

What, does one of them straddle the state line or something?

[scottw73]

1 1/2 Sears Stores in Connecticut

What, does one of them straddle the state line or something?

He's referring to the Danbury Mall location, they only take up the bottom floor, as they leased the upper floor to Primsrk, so technically they're a 1/2 of a store

[deerwrecker2017]

Kmart will end up with less than 200 stores...  Sears barely above 200.

I don't think Sears and Kmart can be called national retailers anymore. Regional discount store Ames operated 327 stores when it went out of business. Even Shopko was bigger than Kmart in the end.

From the looks of it at this point both of them are effectively no longer national retailers.

[Crazybangles]

This doesn’t surprise me at all. The only one near me closing is the Sears in Merrillville. That store has been open for nearly 50 years and it’s kinda sad to see it go.

[AmesNewington]

I often wonder why they kept the Watertown CT Kmart and 2 Sears stores open when they are the only ones left. I'm grateful to have Kmart in Watertown still in business even though it's a long ride. But there has to be a reason why they kept this one open. Keep in mind, it was the smallest one left of the dozen or so that existed during the past decade and least updated one with the old 70s logo on the building up until this time last year. The hedge fund must not see a viable plan for the site, and it does decent business as its the only department store besides Marshalls in the area. The Danbury Sears was cut in half and renovated and the Manchester Sears is no different in appearance and size as the other CT stores that were closed last year, but of course Manchester and Danbury are big destination shopping towns. You could see in both Kmart and Sears this year, stock has been dwindling from previous years. Some items are not restocked. I still like their offerings, even if they are not as abundant.

[BillyGr]

I often wonder why they kept the Watertown CT Kmart and 2 Sears stores open when they are the only ones left. I'm grateful to have Kmart in Watertown still in business even though it's a long ride. But there has to be a reason why they kept this one open. Keep in mind, it was the smallest one left of the dozen or so that existed during the past decade and least updated one with the old 70s logo on the building up until this time last year. The hedge fund must not see a viable plan for the site, and it does decent business as its the only department store besides Marshalls in the area. The Danbury Sears was cut in half and renovated and the Manchester Sears is no different in appearance and size as the other CT stores that were closed last year, but of course Manchester and Danbury are big destination shopping towns. You could see in both Kmart and Sears this year, stock has been dwindling from previous years. Some items are not restocked. I still like their offerings, even if they are not as abundant.

One thing may be that an older store like that was often set up with a very long term lease (like 40 years and more with renewals) - so if they are still leasing it based on rates set up that long ago (which are likely very low compared to modern costs) it can be profitable with a much smaller volume of sales than most stores would require.

That's also why so many stores closed in the last few years as leases expired, as what they would have had to pay in a new lease would quickly make the store turn from profitable to a loss.