Sears Holdings Announces Another Round Of Kmart And Sears Closings

There are two related pieces of news out of Sears Holdings this week. First, the company is closing another round of Kmart and Sears stores across the country. Second, it’s set to borrow at least another $200 million from its manifesto-writing CEO.

Business Insider reports that employees were told yesterday that around 30 stores would be closing; this list was not officially released to the media, but we’ve been able to confirm the following closings with other sources.

State	Town	Mall or Location	Store	End Date
CA	Riverside	Iowa Ave	Kmart	April
KY	Bowling Green	Scottsville Road	Kmart	April
KY	Corbin	N US Highway 25 E	Kmart	April
KY	Georgetown	Paris Pike	Kmart	April
KY	London	W. Highway 192	Kmart	April
KY	Owensboro	W. Parrish Ave.	Kmart	April
KY	Paducah	Kentucky Oaks Mall	Sears	April
MA	Fairhaven	Plaza Way	Kmart	April
NY	Amherst	Boulevard Mall	Sears	April
NY	Cheektowaga	Walden Galleria	Sears	April
NY	New Hartford	Commercial Drive	Kmart	April
NY	Wallkill	Galleria at Crystal Run	Sears	April
OK	Tulsa	S. Yale Avenue	Sears	April
WV	Bridgeport	Meadowbrook Mall	Sears	April
WV	Charleston	Charleston Town Center	Sears	April
WV	Elkins	Beverly Pike	Kmart	April
WV	Parkersburg	Division Street	Kmart	April
WV	Weirton	Three Springs Drive	Kmart	April

 

Meanwhile, Sears Holding CEO Eddie Lampert is once again lending his own company a huge pile of cash. This latest transaction is a “secured standby letter of credit” for at least $200 million, letting the retailer borrow as needed from affiliates of its CEO’s hedge fund when it needs cash flow. It is probably not a good sign about the company’s holiday season sales that it needs cash now, though this could just be planning ahead as rating agencies and the company’s own employees have some trepidation about the future of Sears Holdings, especially the Kmart discount chain.