Ellicott City Sears Only MD Store Slated to Close

The Ellicott City Sears is the only Maryland store among the 79 locations of Sears and Kmart stores that , but up to 41 additional stores could join the ranks of stores to be shuttered.

Sears Holding Corp. announced Tuesday it plans to close 100 to 120 Kmart and Sears locations after poor performance this holiday season.

Along with the announcement of planned closings came the report that Kmart sales were down 4.4 percent for the quarter ending Dec. 25, and sales at Sears were down 6 percent during the same period, according to a release issued by the company.

For now, the is the only Maryland store on the recently released list of locations the company plans to close that was posted on www.searsmedia.com.

The company, which has more than 4,000 stores in North America, may still close up to 41 more stores.

In Baltimore and Harford counties, there are Sears stores at Eastpoint Mall, White Marsh Mall, , Security Square Mall and . There are also Kmart stores located in and North Point.

While the company says it does not have the exact number of employees who will be impacted, the release states the stores being closed have between 40 and 80 employees on average.

A media line answering message for the company asks reporters not to leave messages about store closings because the only available information is in the press releases posted on the media website.

It remained unclear Friday whether other Maryland locations could be added to the list of stores being closed.