28 more Kmarts to shut doors
Sears Holdings Corp. said Thursday that it will close 28 additional Kmart stores nationwide as the retailer continues to struggle with declining sales.
Most of the stores will close in mid-November, with liquidation sales coming as early as the end of this month, the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer said in a statement. There haven’t been any Kmarts in Houston for many years.
Eligible employees affected by the store closings will receive severance pay and be eligible to apply to open positions at other Kmart or Sears locations.
The company said it will continue to transform its business model so the number of its physical stores, as well as its online presence, matches shoppers’ needs and preferences.
Sears has closed 180 stores this year. An additional 150 stores that were slated for closing are to shut by the end of next quarter.
The company said Thursday that its secondquarter loss narrowed to $251 million. Revenue fell 23 percent, to $4.37 billion.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of a retailer’s health, slid 11.5 percent. At Kmart, the measure dropped 9.4 percent, while at Sears stores, it was down 13.2 percent.
Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert, whose hedge fund has forwarded millions in funding to keep Sears afloat, has long pledged to turn the company around and that the retailer would find ways capitalize on its brands like Kenmore and DieHard, as well as its vast holdings of land.