More Sears And Kmart Store Closures: Complete List Of Locations Closing

Sears Kmart CLosures — Chairman Eddie Lampert's proposed business plan to save Sears included closing 36 Kmart stores. The Sears logo is displayed on shopping carts outside of a Sears store on May 31, 2018, in Richmond, California. Getty Images/Justin Sullivan

Following its October 2018 bankruptcy filing, another round of Sears and Kmart stores will be closing. New parent company, TransformCo., made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that it will be shuttering 21 Sears and five Kmart stores in October.

“Over the past several months, we have worked hard to strengthen our vendor relationships, return our inventory levels to normal, and improve customer satisfaction and operations; however, we have faced a number of challenges returning our stores to sustainable levels of productivity, including differences with Sears Holdings over our purchase agreement and a generally weak retail environment. These challenges have unfortunately affected our performance and limited our strategic choices,” the company said in a statement.

The news comes after Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLDQ) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2018 and four months later sold substantially all of its assets to former Sears Chairman and CEO, Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments. The retailer, TransformCo., has about 400 Sears and Kmart stores under its umbrella.

In its announcement, the company also said it would be moving forward with its “smaller store formats,” which includes opening more Home & Life stores as well as “several hundred” Sears Hometown stores. The company opened its first three Sears Home & Life stores in May.

Transform Co. also said it would also be closing the Sears Auto Centers at the stores by Aug. 15 with liquidation sales beginning around the same time. The company will also continue to evaluate its Sears and Kmart store portfolio and “cannot rule out additional store closures in the near term” as it looks to return to profitability and keep as many jobs as possible.

Employees affected by the store closures will be offered severance pay, which TransformCo. said would be the same number of weeks as was offered to employees under Sears Holdings during the Chapter 11 filing.

The Sears and Kmart stores that will be closing include:

Kmart

California