Sears gets $191M to leave two malls

TORONTO — Sears Canada Inc. will exit two more department stores in the Toronto area after landlords made the retailer an offer it could not refuse — a whopping $191 million in cash.

The retailer, which has been shedding slow-moving merchandise categories and is open to selling back leases on less productive stores, said it will leave Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto and Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, Ont. by next March after striking a deal with co-owners Oxford Properties Group and AIMCorp of Alberta.

The Toronto-area moves follow similar deals by Sears for stores in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa at malls owned by Cadillac Fairview in return for $170 million. It also sold back its stake in a Medicine Hat mall to the landlord for $43-million.