MORE TEARS AT SEARS
Retailer to shutter more stores amid sales slide, heightened competition
NEW YORK — Sears continued to struggle in its second quarter with declining sales amid heightened competition from the likes of Walmart to Amazon. It now says it will close even more stores.
The Hoffman Estates, Illinois retailer, which operates Sears and Kmart stores, has been trying to cut costs by closing stores, including 180 this year, and already had plans to cut another 150 stores. It now plans to shutter an additional 28 Kmart stores.
“The retail environment remained challenging,” Sears Holdings Corp. said in a statement.
The company reported Thursday that its secondquarter loss narrowed to $ 251 million, or $ 2.34 per share. Losses, adjusted for one- time gains and costs, came to $ 1.16 per share.
Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert, whose hedge fund has forwarded millions in funding to keep Sears afloat, has long pledged to turn the company’s fortunes around and that the retailer would find ways to capitalize on its best- known brands like Kenmore appliances and DieHard car batteries, as well as its vast holdings of land.
Last month, it began selling its appliances on Amazon. com, including Kenmore smart appliances that can be synced with Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa. The announcement that day sent shares of Sears soaring.
But Sears is battling chal- lenges on all fronts. Like many department stores, Sears is feeling pain as shoppers change their preferences and behavior. They’re spending more online and spending less on clothing and more on experiences like spas. But analysts say Sears has much to blame for its woes. While Sears has ramped up online services, it’s having a hard time disguising its age. Stores are in need of a major redo. And old rivals have made it tougher as they aim to compete with online leader Amazon. com, which is pushing ahead with innovative services as part of its juggernaut Amazon Prime membership.
A number of chains like Walmart and Target have been sprucing up their stores. J. C. Penney has brought back to its floors major appliances more than 30 years after abandoning the sale of refrigerators and stoves. And Walmart announced earlier this week that it was joining forces with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items for voice shopping through Google Assistant as it tries to challenge Amazon’s Alexa- powered Echo devices.
In March, Sears said there is “substantial doubt” it could continue as a viable concern, but it has insisted that its actions to turn around its business should help reduce that risk.