A shopping cart sits in the parking lot of a Sears retail store on March 22, 2017 in Schaumburg, Illinois. Sears Holdings, the parent of Kmart and Sears, Roebuck, & Co., said there is “substantial doubt” about the company’s financial viability.
Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The last Sears department store located in the retailer’s home state of Illinois is getting ready to close its doors for good.
The shop, located in Simon Property Group‘s Woodfield Mall, is slated to shutter on Nov. 14, the company confirmed to CNBC.
A spokesman for the department store chain’s parent company, Transformco, said it will look for ways to revive the space with another tenant because it also manages the real estate.
“This is part of the company’s strategy to unlock the value of the real estate and pursue the highest and best use for the benefit of the local community,” Transformco said in a statement.
Sears Holdings, which also owned Kmart, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October of 2018. Transformco later acquired Sears out of bankruptcy and has since closed dozens of the remaining Sears and Kmart locations across the United States.
Kmart’s last location in Manhattan recently shut. It will be replaced by a Wegmans grocery store.
A spokesperson for Transformco declined to confirm how many Sears and Kmart stores are still open.
The company’s websites list 35 Sears locations, including the one at Woodfield Mall, and 22 Kmart stores.
Sears was founded in Chicago in the 1890s. Its business blossomed through much of the 20th century, as it sold everything from homes to apparel. Sears was once the largest retailer in the nation, boasting thousands of stores.
The company had about 700 shops, many of them barren of goods, when it filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
Scott Carr, president of Transformco’s real estate division, emphasized in a statement that the company plans to maximize the value of the Woodfield Mall property through a redevelopment.
