Report: Sears laying off hundreds of corporate employees

Sears is eliminating more jobs from its corporate offices, one week after the struggling retailer closed 96 stores nationwide, according to published reports.

Business Insider reported Thursday that employees at the Hoffman Estates headquarters and an apparel center in San Francisco were notified that they were being laid off.

A source said fewer than 300 employees were let go.

Sears' parent company, Hoffman Estates-based Transformco, issued a statement saying the process of turning the struggling retailer around has "resulted in a number of difficult but necessary decisions, including closing stores and making adjustments at our corporate headquarters and field positions to reflect our new structure.

"We regret the impact that this has on our associates and their families," the statement said.

The statement did not confirm specifics of the most recent layoffs, and a company spokesman declined to elaborate.

The layoffs are the latest in a number of belt-tightening moves the company has made since Transformco purchased 425 Sears and Kmart stores from Sears Holdings for $5.2 billion in a bankruptcy sale last February.

The company, formed by former Sears Holdings Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert, has since closed 243 stores and eliminated a number of jobs, including about 250 at in Hoffman Estates last September.

Transformco said it has faced "a difficult retail environment" in its efforts to become profitable again, and has "been working hard to position Transformco for success by focusing on our competitive strengths and pruning operations that have struggled due to increased competition and other factors."

Suburban Sears stores that have closed this year include Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale and Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook.

The store at Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee is scheduled to close in February.

Sears stores at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Chicago Ridge Mall and North Riverside remain open, as well as a Kmart in Des Plaines.