26 More Sears, Kmart Stores Closing, Including Illinois Location

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL — Struggling Illinois-based retailer Sears has announced even more store closings, eight months after a last-minute reprieve saved the chain from liquidation. In a message to shareholders, Sears said, "We have made the difficult but necessary decision to close 26 large-format Sears and Kmart stores in late October." The closings include one Illinois store at Stratford Square in Bloomingdale.

The company explained its reasoning behind the additional closings, saying, "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." Liquidation at the 26 stores is expected to begin around Aug. 15 and they will close by late October.

In December 2018, Sears announced it would close 80 more Sears stores nationwide, on top of the 40 stores it has previously slated for closure by February. Dozens of Illinois Sears stores have already closed, including the last Chicago location.

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The company also announced 142 closings in October 2018 when it filed for bankruptcy.

Sears "cannot rule out additional store closures in the near term" but said employees of the 26 stores that are closing will be offered the same number of weeks of severance as those affected by the October 2018 Chapter 11 filing.

The latest closings include 5 Kmart stores and 21 Sears locations in multiple states.