Sears Holdings to shut doors on 100-plus stores

The Sears Holdings Corp announced Tuesday that it will close between 100 and 120 of its namesake chains and Kmart stores, citing sagging consumer electronic and home appliance holiday sales as a reason.

The staff told Patch that the store will remain open and operate as usual until further notice is given. Sears, along with Macy’s and Costco, anchors the mall.

Sears Holdings Corp. said it has yet to determine which stores will close but said it will post on http://www.searsmedia.com when a final list is compiled. The company would not discuss how many, if any, jobs would be cut. The company has more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

"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."

Outside the Cumberland Mall location on Tuesday morning, Andrea Lawson of Marietta was set to return a sweater.

“It was a Christmas gift, so I really don’t come here often,'' said Lawson, who said she prefers to shop at the nearby Target on Cobb Parkway.

For the fourth quarter to date, sales for Kmart and Sears are down 5.2 percent. Overall, the company experienced a 2.6 percent drop in sales year-to-year. The company is expected to release financial results for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter and full year on February 23, 2012.

The Sears store at Cumberland is a full-service retail store, including an optical center and auto and tire shop. Stores targeted for closing were mostly among Sears’ 2,100 specialty retail locations, including 53 National Tire and Battery stores and 30 hardware stores, reported ABC News.

Would you be disappointed to see the Sears store at Cumberland Mall close?