Two More Indiana Sears to Close
The Sears store in Mishawaka already showed bare shelves in August 2018.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe parent company of Sears and K-Mart stores is closing 26 more locations nationwide, including two in Indiana. Transform Holdco LLC has announced it will close the Sears store at University Park Mall in Mishawaka and the location at Southlake Mall in Hobart. Both stores are expected to be closed by the end of October.
Five K-Mart locations, none in Indiana, are also part of this round of closings. Transform Holdco purchased assets from the Sears Holding Co., known as ‘Old Sears,’ in April. The two companies are currently suing each other.
“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.
In addition to the department stores in this round of cuts, the Sears Auto Centers will also close, starting in late August. Liquidation sales at these stores expected to begin around August 15.
The company has already closed stores in Indianapolis, Muncie, Griffith, Jasper, Lafayette, and Terre Haute.
Illinois-based Sears filed for bankruptcy in October. Transform Holdco announced it would close the large-format stores around the country as it shifts to a focus on smaller stores.
“After careful review of where we are today, we believe the right course for the company is to accelerate the expansion of our smaller store formats which includes opening additional Home & Life stores and adding several hundred Sears Hometown stores after the Sears Hometown and Outlet transaction closes.”
The company says it will continue to evaluate the network of Sears and Kmart stores and cannot rule out additional store closures in the near term. “Our goal remains to return the company to profitability and preserve as many jobs as possible in the communities we serve.”