CHICAGO (FoxKansas.com) -- Citing lackluster holiday sales and the economy's ongoing sluggishness, Sears Holdings announced Tuesday that it plans to shutter between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores across the country.
The retailer has not yet announced which stores will close its doors but the company has several outlets in the Wichita area, including Sears stores at Towne West Square, Towne East Square as well as a store in Hutchinson, Kansas. The retailer also operates several Kmart stories in the area.
The company, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., operates over 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. The retailer said it plans to abandon its struggling stores in order to concentrate on stores that are more financially successful.
"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 Louis D'Ambrosio said. "These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers."
It was not immediately clear how many jobs would be affected by the store closures but the company said it anticipates generating between $140 and $170 million in cash from inventory sales and leasing or selling its real estate that housed the stores.
The company's Kmart brand has struggled to compete against other discounters, such as WalMart and Target, while Sears has lost ground to other department stores, such as Macy's and JC Penney.
In fact, the retailer announced that same-store revenue dropped 5.2 percent to date for the quarter at Sears and Kmart. The company was unable to reverse its decline during the crucial holiday shopping season, which is coming to a close.
The firm blamed its 6 percent decline on revenue at stores open at least a year on fewer layaways and less-than-anticipated clothing and consumer electronic sales.
FoxKansas.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles contributed to this report. He can be reached at acharles@nptvgroup.com.
