Area Sears store closing; inventory being liquidated
The city of Alma is losing another longtime business.
Last month, Pizza Hut closed its doors after more than 45 years, and now it’s Sears that is closing.
The store, located at 1650 Wright Ave. in the North Town Plaza, is in the process of liquidating its entire inventory.
The Alma location is a Sears Hometown Store, one of the more than 400 smaller, independently owned and operated dealers in the U.S.
However, most of those stores were purchased in October 2019 by Transform Holdco, which had bought Sears and Kmart out of bankruptcy earlier that year for $5.2 billion.
Transform is owned by Edward Lampert’s ESL Investments hedge fund in Greenwich, Conn.
Alma owner Jarred Cline and store manager Chris Mertens referred all inquiries regarding the closing to Northbook, Illbased Fishman Public Relations.
However, several calls and emails to Special Account Manager Amanda
Gualtieri seeking comment were not returned.
Mertens, who has been the manager of the Alma, Mt. Pleasant and Greenville stores for more than 23 years, did say, “We really hate to close,” before referring calls to Gualtieri.
“I don’t think Sears wants us to say anything,” Mertens explained. “There are a lot of issues.”
It’s also been announced that the Greenville Sears store that he manages is also closing.
Cline declined to offer a reason for the closing or disclose how many employees the Alma store has.
Sears has been in Alma for a number of years. It was initially located downtown in the 100 block of West Superior Street where the Heritage Town Square Mall is today.
It moved to its current
location sometime in 1977 or 1978, shortly after the J.C. Penny store did the same.
The store’s entire inventory is on sale including washers, dryers, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, lawn tractors, garden equipment, grills, patio furniture, and tools, among all other items still in stock.
An exact closing date has not yet been announced.
During the past 15 years about 3,500 Sears and Kmart stores around the country have closed eliminating more than 250,000 jobs.