Filing for bankruptcy, Sears maintains its long, slow fade

With the slow, steady darkening of store windows at Sears outlets over the years, the announcement that the iconic retailer had fallen into bankruptcy was no surprise.

Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, crushed under massive debt and hemorrhaging losses. The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based company, which built itself up from its famous catalog business in the late 19th century into a brick-and-mortar household name, plans to shutter another 142 unprofitable Sears and Kmart stores, a chain that Sears snapped up in 2005.

At its peak in 2012, the operator of Sears and Kmart had 4,000 stores. It will now be left with a little more than 500, The Associated Press noted.

“It’s a historical event,” said Jaime Ward, head of retail finance at Citizens Bank. “This was the great American retailer.”

In the Pittsburgh region, the latest store closure list mostly is comprised of Kmart locations, as the company had already whittled down its Sears locations significantly.

The latest round includes Kmart locations in Shaler, Pleasant Hills and New Kensington, according to court documents filed Monday. Kmart will have four locations left within 30 miles of the Steel City after this round.

That will leave Sears with nine department stores, appliance showrooms and auto service outlets within 30 miles of Pittsburgh,