LIHU‘E — Sears Holdings Corp. on Tuesday announced the planned closing of 100 to 130 Kmart and Sears stores, but had not yet identified specific stores that will be closed. The Associated Press reported that the announcement was made following
LIHU‘E — Sears Holdings Corp. on Tuesday announced the planned closing of 100 to 130 Kmart and Sears stores, but had not yet identified specific stores that will be closed.
The Associated Press reported that the announcement was made following a lackluster holiday shopping season, and that the stores would be closed to raise cash.
“We did pretty good,” Jarrett Chytka, manager of the Kmart store at the Kukui Grove Center in Lihu‘e, said about his store’s holiday sales performance. “It was not what we wanted, but overall it was pretty good.”
Chytka referred other questions to the Sears Holdings corporate offices.
In a news release, Sears Holdings reported thatKmart’s sales decline reflected decreases in consumer electronics and apparel categories and lower layaway sales, while Sears attributed its decline to the consumer electronics and home appliance categories.
“Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” CEO Lou D’Ambrosio stated in the news release.
“These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail — at the store, online and in the home.
No specific stores had been selected for closing, a Sears Holdings spokesperson said by telephone. A list of store closings, once determined, will be posted at www.searsmedia.com.
The company plans to release financial results for its fourth quarter and full year results for fiscal 2011 on Feb. 23, the news release stated.
Sears Holdings is the country’s fourth-largest broadline retailer with more than 4,000 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.
