Dozens of Kmart and Sears Stores to Close After Disastrous Holiday Season
If you’re a regular shopper at Kmart or Sears, you may soon have fewer places to spend your money — parent company Sears Holdings has said that in light of decreased holiday sales, it’ll close at least 100 stores in the coming months.
The company, one of the nation’s largest retailers, currently has more than 4,000 retail locations in the United States and Canada. It reported Tuesday that sales fell more than five percent in the eight weeks leading up to Christmas Day, a sharp contrast to reports stating the broader retail industry has enjoyed a robust holiday shopping season.
While the exact location of the store closings is still unknown, Burt Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, said he believes most will be Kmart stores outside of its home base in the northeast and Great Lakes region.
Sears Holdings CEO Lou D’Ambrosio said even more poorly-performing stores may be on the chopping block, adding, “While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment.”
Investors reacted to the news as you might expect — in early trading, shares of Sears Holdings dropped nearly 19 percent to $37.56, which is roughly half what they were a year ago.