Sears Holdings Corp., the 125-year-old retailer that became an icon for generations of American shoppers, filed for bankruptcy early Monday, saddled with billions of dollars of debt racked up as it struggled to adjust to the rapid shift toward online consumption.
STORE CLOSINGS
Since filing for bankruptcy on Monday, Sears says it plans to close the additional following stores in Michigan by the end of this year:
- Kmart in Charlevoix, 06600 M-66 North
- Kmart in Lake Orion, 1025 Lapeer Road
- Sears in Lincoln Park, 2100 Southfield Rd.
- Sears in Ann Arbor at Briarwood Mall
The Sears store in Jackson at 1250 Jackson Xing I-94 was also previously announced to close by November.
The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer, which listed more than $10 billion in debts and more than $1 billion in assets in its filing, said it is seeking to reorganize around a smaller base of profitable stores. Sears and Kmart stores will remain open with help from $600 million in new loans, but the company will shut 142 unprofitable outlets near the end of the year, on top of 46 unprofitable stores already scheduled for closure by November.
Since acquiring then Troy-based Kmart Corp. out of bankruptcy in 2005 for $11 billion, Sears has closed hundreds of stores and sold off several divisions. Since last year alone, Sears has closed more than 380 of its 894 stores, down from 2,200 stores in the U.S. and Canada in 2005. In August, it closed 13 Kmart stores and 33 Sears locations, including the Oakland Mall and Jackson Crossing stores.
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