Sears Holding to close 13 Kmarts, 8 Sears stores

Hoffman Estates-based Sears Holding plans to close 13 Kmarts, four Sears and four Sears Essentials stores nationwide by May 9, affecting roughly 1,000 employees.

Kmart stores in Illinois closing are in Woodstock, with 57 workers, and in South Suburban Crestwood, with 71 workers.

The company informed workers in early February and plans to start liquidation sales in the affected stores on Feb. 21, Sears Holding spokeswoman Kimberly Freely said Friday.

"They are closing due to business reasons," said Freely.

She said the stores are mostly underperforming, and leases are not being renewed for those locations. None of the properties are owned where the affected stores are located.

Sears, which plans to report its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings next week, has continued to struggle and said it has been regularly reviewing its stores and their performance to streamline operations.

That earnings report "won't look pretty," said Anne Brouwer, retail analyst and senior partner with Chicago-based McMillan Doolittle LLP.

"With any retailer, part of managing its store portfolio is the harvesting that needs to happen," said Brouwer. "They have to know where to grow and where to prune."

Sears Holding operates about 1,300 Kmarts and about 850 Sears stores. Each store has an average of 50 workers.

Workers affected by these latest closures are being given severance packages and the opportunity to apply for other open positions at nearby Kmart or Sears stores, Freely said.

Freely couldn't say how much the closures would save annually for Sears Holding, exactly how many employees would be laid off, or how many other stores may be under scrutiny.