American department store chain Sears, Roebuck and Co., or just Sears, is closing down its last retail store in its home state of Illinois. The company is reportedly closing down the store as it prepares to shut down permanently.
The company said Thursday that the store, which is located in Simon Property Group's Woodfield Mall, will be shut down on Nov. 14. Transformco, Sear's parent company and the manager of the store's properties, said that it is still looking for a tenant to take over the space, which it plans to redevelop.
"This is part of the company's strategy to unlock the value of the real estate and pursue the highest and best use for the benefit of the local community," Transformco said.
Sears Holdings Corporation, the owner of Sears and chain store Kmart, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018. Transformco later bought Sears and Kmart out of bankruptcy. To recoup the cost of the acquisition, Transformco has been gradually closing down Sears and Kmart locations across the country.
After it acquired the company, Transformco had announced that it would be reducing the number of Sears and Kmart stores to about 425 nationwide outlets. Earlier in the year, Sears said it might leave at least 29 stores open this year.
Transformco recently closed down Kmart's last location in Manhattan, replacing it with a Wegmans grocery store. The company's website lists down a total of 35 remaining Sears locations and 22 Kmart stores. The company did not say how many Sears or Kmart stores it will keep open by the end of the year.
Transformco's president of its real estate division, Scott Carr, said the company plans to maximize existing Sears locations, including the one in Woodfield Mall, through redevelopment.
Sears was originally founded in Chicago by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in Chicago in 1892. It was later reincorporated by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald in 1906.
The company experienced significant growth throughout much of the 20th century, becoming a well-known store brand selling everything from homes to apparel. In 2015, Sears had ranked among the 20th-largest retail companies in the U.S.
Over the past decades, Sears had encountered major issues such as declining sales and failing subsidiaries. Experts said the company's decline began when it started to divest into many non-retail entities, including investments in businesses such as auto repair and retailer credit cards.
