Sears Canada files for protection
A Sears Home store in northwest Edmonton will be closing along with 12 other Sears locations in Alberta as part of a larger restructuring across Canada.
The store at Skyview Power Centre, 13304 137 Ave., will be one of the 15 Sears Home stores closing in Canada. A Sears Home store in Calgary is also closing.
Sears Canada Inc. — after obtaining temporary court protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act — announced Thursday it will close 20 full department stores, 15 Sears Home stores, all 10 Sears Outlet stores and 14 Sears Hometown locations.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice order granted Sears Canada an initial 30-day stay of proceedings and authorized it to obtain $450 million in financing to maintain operations throughout the restructuring period.
Sears is cutting about 2,900 jobs across the country.
Of the 14 Hometown stores closing, half of them are located in Alberta, including four in the Edmonton area.
Four full-line department stores will be closed in the province.
The struggling retailer has piled up losses over several years and seen its stock dive, losing more than 80 per cent of its value in the last year, despite efforts to reinvent itself over the last year and a half.
These changes led to an increase in same-store sales in the last two quarters, but the continued liquidity pressures and the legacy aspect are preventing further progress in its brand reinvention, the company said in a news release.
As a result of the filing for creditor protection, trading has been suspended of the common share stocks on the TSX and NASDAQ, with no certainty of their return to the market.
Headquartered in Toronto, Sears Canada operates 225 stores in all, including 95 department stores, 65 Sears Hometown stores and 23 Sears Home stores.
The company said it hopes to exit court protection as soon as possible.
The specific timing for the store closures has not been determined.