Sears Holdings announced it will close 64 of its Kmart stores across 28 states. The stores will close by mid-December 2016. As shown in Figure 1, since January 2016, Sears Holdings Corp. announced it will close 132 of its Kmart stores. In January 2016, there were 941 Kmart stores. After the proposed 64 closures announced last Friday, there will be 809 Kmart stores remaining. Sears Holdings has reduced its total Sears and Kmart stores by 24% over the last three years. The company reduced its Sears stores by 14% and its Kmart stores by 32% during that time. Sears Holdings decided to close 68 Kmart stores and 10 Sears stores in April 2016. The company said it has accelerated closing unprofitable stores. After the retailer executed a comprehensive store portfolio evaluation and reviewed profitability, store performance,  and lease expirations, it decided to close the 78 stores. The company reported they expect the store closures to generate cash from the liquidation of store inventory and from the sale or sublease of some of the real estate. The latest closures were announced to employees last Friday. The 64 Kmart stores that will close account for 14% of Kmart’s stores. Of the 64 Kmart stores scheduled to close, 17 of them are part of Seritage Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust that currently owns 235 Sears and Kmart stores. Among the 64 stores nationwide, Kmart said three are in Southern California, in Fontana, Indio and Los Angeles. A Sears spokesman said the company will provide an updated store count when it releases its next quarterly earnings report.

Source: Sears Holding Corp. 10-K Financial Reports