Sears Holdings to Close More Than 100 Stores

Sears Holdings has announced it will close 100 to 120 Kmart and Sears full-line stores next year.

The announcement comes on the heels of disappointing fourth-quarter results for the national retailer. For the quarter to date, sales for Kmart and Sears are down 5.2 percent. According to a company press release, Kmart’s decline in sales reflects decreases in consumer electronics and apparel purchases as well as lower layaway sales. Sears' quarter to date decline was primarily blamed on lower sales in the consumer electronics and home appliance categories.

"Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” said Chief Executive Officer Lou D'Ambrosio in a released statement. “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."

Those actions include 100 to 120 store closures. Officials expect the store closures to generate $140 to $170 million in cash as inventory is sold. Additional cash proceeds are expected from the sale or sublease of related real estate.

The is not a corporate owned store and should not be affected, said store manager Mark Easterling.

According to Easterling, the Dacula Sears store operates more as a franchise. The building is not owned by Sears Holdings, but is instead owned by operator Jim Easterling. 

Though the Dacula store should not be affected by store closures, it could be affected by other corporate efforts to reduce costs. Sears Holdings expects to reduce 2012 peak domestic inventory by $300 million from the 2011 level of $10.2 billion at the end of the third quarter. The company also plans to focus on improving gross profit through better inventory management and more targeted pricing and promotion. 

The company plans to release financial results for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter and full year on or about Feb. 23, 2012.