100-120 Kmart and Sears Stores to Close

The company that owns Sears and Kmart announced Tuesday that it would close between 100 and 120 stores in an effort to shore up its financial situation.

Sears stores in New Brunswick and Lawrenceville could be on the closing list, as could the Kmart in East Brunswick, though a decision on which stores will close has not been made. The list of stores closing will be posted atwww.searsmedia.com.

The Kmart in Lawrenceville closed several year ago.

According to a press release from Sears Holding Company, consumer electronics and home appliance sales were down significantly and apparel sales were flat.

"Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model. These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail - at the store, online and in the home," Chief Executive Officer Lou D'Ambrosio said in the release.

D'Ambrosio said the store closings will "generate $140 to $170 million of cash as the net inventory in these stores is sold and we expect to generate additional cash proceeds from the sale or sublease of the related real estate."

The latest announcement follows the third-quarter closing of 10 stores, according to Reuters. Reuters says that Kmart and Sears have a combined 2,177 U.S. big box locations and another 500 in Canada.