SEARS CLOSES 46 MORE U.S. STORES
another 13 Kmart stores and 33 Sears stores in the U.S. as sales shrink and losses grow. The ailing company said Thursday that liquidation sales at the 46 unprofitable stores marked for closure will start Aug. 30, and the stores will close in November. The company said it informed its workers. The move comes as Sears is considering a bid from CEO Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund ESL Investments to acquire its jewel Kenmore appliances from the company for $400 million. The company has put others of its famous brands on the block before. In January, Sears had said it was closing 100 stores. It announced in May that it was closing another 100. As of May 5, it had about 894 stores, down from about 1,000 at the end of last year. The number of stores peaked in 2012 at 4,000, which included the Sears Canada division that was later spun off.