More Sears and Kmart stores are closing. Here are the ones shutting down in Florida
Nearly 100 Sears and Kmart stores will be shutting their doors for good this holiday season, including in Florida.
Transform Holdco, the parent company of the two retailers, announced the decision in December to close 96 of its stores.
Most affected stores began their going out of business sales on Dec. 2 and will be closed by February 2020, according to Transform Holdco.
New paperwork filed with Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity in February shows that the Sears and Sears Auto Center store at 9565 W. Atlantic Blvd., Coral Springs will also be closing, “due to a change in business circumstances” with layoffs expected to begin by April 12.
Sears and Kmart stores have had a steady stream of closures for the past several years as the brands, which once dominated the retail industry, struggle to save their dying businesses.
The news of additional closures comes a little more than a year after its former owner, the publicly held Sears Holding Company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2018. Florida saw three stores disappear last November when the company closed 46 of its “unprofitable” stores.
Early this year, a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of many of the company’s remaining assets to Eddie Lampert, the investor who ran Sears Holdings for more than a decade. Lampert, who lives in Miami-Dade County, formed Transform Holdco.
Once the latest round of closures is completed, the company will retain 182 stores. Nine Sears and three Kmarts will remain in South Florida,
Here are the Florida stores slated to close by February 2020:
Sears
▪ Sears Store and Sears Auto Center - 9565 W. Atlantic Blvd., Coral Springs
▪ Sears and Sears Auto Center at Southland Mall, 20701 SW 112th Ave. in Cutler Bay. Layoffs for its combined 80 employees are expected to begin on Feb. 16, according to paperwork filed with Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity.
▪ Sears at Westland Mall, 1625 West 49th St. in Hialeah.
▪ Sears at Edison Mall, 4125 Cleveland Ave. in Fort Myers.
Kmart
▪ Kmart at Oakwood Plaza, 3800 Oakwood Blvd. in Hollywood. Layoffs for its 88 employees are expected to begin on Feb. 16, according to paperwork filed with Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity.
▪ Kmart at Central Shopping Plaza, 3825 NW Seventh St. in Miami. Layoffs for its 99 employees are expected to begin on Dec. 1.
▪ Kmart at Beachway Plaza, 7350 Manatee Ave. West in Bradenton.
▪ Kmart at Lantana Village Square, 1201 South Dixie Highway in Lantana.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 4:30 AM.
