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Tacoma Sears among 63 Kmart and Sears stores to close

The latest closures include 15 Kmart stores and 48 Sears stores.
Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Customers shop at Chicago's last remaining Sears store on May 3, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.

The Sears store in Tacoma is among the 63 money-losing stores Sears Holdings plans to close as the beleaguered department-store chain tries to stem the bleeding from its long-running sales crisis.

The Tacoma store, which is located at 4504 South Steele Street, is the only Washington state store that will be shuttered in this round of closures.

RELATED: Sears store in Redmond to close

The closures will be the latest in a flurry of moves by the retailer to restore its revenue and relevance at a time when an increasing number of shoppers bypass it to shop with online, big box and specialized rivals like Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy instead.

The company, whose stores include Sears and Kmart, has been engaging in a virtually nonstop campaign of downsizing as it seeks a turnaround that has proven so far to be elusive. The latest round of closures will occur in early September, with liquidation sales starting as soon as June 14.

The list of closures was revealed Thursday afternoon and said liquidation sales will begin as early as June 14 at the closing stores.

Sears Holdings has closed roughly 530 struggling locations over the last year, and the next wave is believed to represent about 8% of the company's roughly 899 remaining stores, according to Susquehanna International Group retail stock analyst Bill Dreher.

Facing declining mall traffic, heightened online competition and strategic missteps, Sears sales have plummeted.

“Sears continues to struggle to bring its business to profitability,'' Moody’s Vice President Christina Boni said in a note. "Its continued efforts to enhance liquidity will be necessary to fund its ongoing operating losses.”

The company signaled that there may be more closures to come. It initially said that it would be shuttering 72 locations, out of roughly 100 nonprofitable stores that had been identified overall. But when it later provided the list of locations that would be shuttered, the company said that "a small group of stores was pulled from the closing list . .. as they are being evaluated further.''

The company did not say what would happen to the 28 other nonprofitable locations.

Sears swung to a net loss of $424 million in the first quarter, from net income of $245 million in the year-ago period, when the company had a temporary gain from the sale of its Craftsman brand.

The company said its sales at stores open at least a year -- a key measure for retail companies -- fell 11.9% overall during the latest quarter, including declines of 13.4% at Sears locations and 9.5% at Kmart stores.

In the wake of the bleak news, the price of Sears shares plunged 11.37% to $2.85 in afternoon trading.

The retailer said one bright spot was that same-store stores in the apparel, footwear and jewelry categories increased at both Kmart and Sears locations.

Sears reports its earnings as it still considers an offer by its largest shareholder and CEO Eddie Lampert to purchase the company's Kenmore appliance brand and other assets.

Lampert said in a statement that Sears would "continue to explore opportunities to unlock the full potential of our assets for our shareholders."

List of closures:

Arizona

Sears*: 10001 N Metro Parkway West, Phoenix

California

Kmart: 910 North China Lake Blvd, Ridgecrest,

Sears: 100 S Puente Hills Mall, City Industry

Colorado

Kmart: 9881 W 58Th Avenue, Arvada

Florida

Kmart: 5400 E Busch Blvd, Tampa

Sears*: 7902 Citrus Park Town Center, Tampa

Sears: 320 Towne Center Circle, Sanford

Georgia

Sears+: 2201 Henderson Mill Road N.E., Atlanta

Sears+: 1300 Southlake Mall, Morrow

Sears+: 2100 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth

Hawaii

Kmart: 4303 Nawiliwili Road, Lihue

Illinois

Kmart: 5909 E State Street, Rockford

Sears+: #2 Hawthorn Center, Vernon Hills

Sears*: 6136 W Grand Avenue, Gurnee

Sears+: #2 Fox Valley Center, Aurora

Sears+: 104 West White Oaks Mall, Springfield

Indiana

Sears+: 2415 Sagamore Pkwy S, Lafayette

Sears+: 40 Muncie Mall, Muncie

Sears+: 6020 E 82Nd Street, Indianapolis

Iowa

Kmart: 2535 Hubbell Avenue, Des Moines

Sears*: 320 W Kimberly Road, Davenport

Kansas

Sears: 1781 Sw Wanamaker Road, Topeka

Louisiana

Kmart: 4070 Ryan Street, Lake Charles

Sears*: Alexandria Mall. Alexandria

Massachusetts

Sears: Hwys 114 & 128, Peabody

Sears*: Eastfield Mall, Springfield

Michigan

Sears*: 3191 S Linden Road, Flint

Sears+: 18900 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn

Sears+: 14100 Lakeside Circle, Sterling Heights

Sears*: 1212 S Airport Road W, Traverse City

Minnesota

Kmart: 215 North Central Avenue, Duluth

Sears*: Shingle Creek Crossing, Brooklyn Ctr

Sears*: Miller Hill Mall, Duluth

Missouri

Sears: 250 S County Center Way, St. Louis

Sears: #1 Chesterfield Mall, Chesterfield

Mississippi

Sears*: 1000 Turtle Creek Drive, Hattiesburg

Montana

Sears*: 1515 Grand Avenue, Billings

New Jersey

Kmart: 24 34 Barbour Avenue, Passaic / Clifton

Sears+: 300 Quaker Bridge Mall, Lawrenceville

Sears*: 2341 Rt 66, Ocean

Sears*: 2501 Mt Holly Road, Burlington

New Mexico

Kmart: 2100 Carlisle Avenue, Albuquerque

Sears*: 10000 Coors Bypass N.W, Albuquerque

New York

Kmart: 1000 Montauk Highway, West Babylon

Kmart: 25301 Rockaway Blvd, Rosedale

Sears+: 3649 Erie Blvd E, Witt / Syracuse

North Dakota

Sears*: 2800 S Columbia Road, Grand Forks

Ohio

Sears*: 2400 Elida Road, Lima

Sears+: 17271 Southpark Center, Strongsville

Oregon

Kmart: 12350 N E Sandy Blvd, Portland

Pennsylvania

Kmart: 1072 Mountain Laurel Plaza, Latrobe

Sears*: 300 S Hills Village, Pittsburgh/South Hills

Sears: 1000 Robinson Center Drive, Pittsburgh

South Carolina

Sears+: 205 W Blackstock Road, Spartanburg

Sears: 3101 N Main Street, Anderson

South Dakota

Sears*: 3400 Empire Mall, Sioux Falls

Tennessee

Sears+: 2931 Knoxville Center Drive, Knoxville

Texas

Sears^: 2401 S Stemmons Freeway, Lewisville

Sears*: 1800 Green Oaks Road, Fort Worth

Sears+: 11200 Lakeline Mall Drive, Cedar Park

Sears^: Golden Triangle Mall, Denton

Kmart: 5000 San Dario, Laredo

Washington

Sears*: 4502 S Steele Street, Tacoma

Sears Auto Center closing

^ Early June 2018

* Late June 2018

+ Late July 2018

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