As Many As 120 Sears, Kmart Stores To Close
Retailer reports disappointing holiday sales
12/27/2011 | By Mark Huffman
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ConsumerAffairs.com
| Shopping
Consumers may have spent more this holiday season, but they didn't spend quite enough at Sears and Kmart. Sears Holdings announced today it is closing as many as 120 Sears and Kmart stores in the coming year.
"Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” said Sears Holdings CEO Lou D'Ambrosio.
“These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail -- at the store, online and in the home.”
Sears says that, as a result, it will close 100 to 120 Kmart and Sears full-line stores. The company expects these store closures to generate $140 to $170 million of cash as the net inventory in these stores is sold and it generates additional cash proceeds from the sale or sublease of the related real estate.
Final determination of the stores to be closed has not yet been made.
Other profit-boosting measures include better inventory management, promotion and targeted pricing, with a goal of reducing fixed costs by $100 to $200 million.
Sears Holdings made the announcement as it disclosed comparable store sales for the eight-week holiday sales period. Sears Domestic sales were off 3.3 percent while Kmart sales were down 1.8 percent.
Chester Borowski (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:10:19 +0000): I WOULD NOT CARE IF ALL THE SEARS STORES CLOSED.LAST YEAR I LOST $800.00 OF SEARS PRODUCTS WHICH ALL FAILED.
Jacqueline Folwell (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:24:02 +0000): Sears prices out o sight high Especially on appliances and Servicing those appliances sometimes takes months. They Don't even try to compete and their name alone cannot cary themas their quality went downhill too. 8 weeks and 3 Techs. with the wrong parts Tells me I should have bought my glass top stove elsewhere.
Susan Thomas (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:48:05 +0000): I think sears prices are to high that's why no one shops there.
Richard Mercado (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:39:48 +0000): I use to buy most of my appliances from Sears. Then their service dept and products starting going down hill. Haven't bought much from them for the last five years. At one time they were tops but no longer.
Jacqueline Holtzman Reisinger (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:14:14 +0000): Michael's appliance has very good service and they will work with you on the price to stay competitive.
William Ashby (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 13:52:49 +0000): tools are ok, rest is junk, kmart been going down hill for a long time.
Herbert Eldridge Edmonds (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:36:00 +0000): Most of the stuff is made in china , but heck thats the same in practically all the stores anymore.
Ted Kroll (Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:04:47 +0000): I used to go there all the time. It was a good GUY place to buy tools etc: But now the malls are so infested with gangs and the like it's just no fun anymore. The Sears satellite stores are still doing good I think.
Terry Stick (Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:16:28 +0000): I disagree that most of sears appliances are made in China in fact they are still made in Michigan. But product has gone down and customer service is the window along with warranty. I have had a stove top replaced 4 times as as soon as you cook on it, it cracks. Now they say it is only cosmetic and does not interfere with the products ability to function. True it works but looks like... well you know...It doesn't look good for a new stove or in a new kitchen.