Kmart To Close At Schuylkill Mall

FRACKVILLE, PA — Kmart at the Schuylkill Mall will close later this year.

Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications for Sears Holdings, said in an email today the Kmart store will close.

Employees were notified this morning of the closure, he said.

“We did not renew the lease for the Kmart store in the Schuylkill Mall and the store will close to the public in mid-October. Until then, the store will remain open for customers,” Riefs said.

A liquidation sale will begin July 19.

Read more:  http://standardspeaker.com/news/kmart-to-close-at-schuylkill-mall-1.1834328

Sears Closing Store At Century III Mall In West Mifflin

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Sears store at Century III Mall is slated to close in early December.

A spokesman for Sears Holdings in Illinois said a liquidation sale is scheduled to start Friday.

“Store closures are part of a series of actions we’re taking to reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” said Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications for Sears Holdings, in an email.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/business/2014/09/22/Sears-closing-store-at-Century-III-Mall-in-West-Mifflin-Pittsburgh/stories/201409220183

Sanatoga K-Mart Store Signs Announce Its Closing

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SANATOGA PA – The K-Mart discount department store at 2200 E. High St., which occupies the largest retail building in Sanatoga village and has operated there continuously for decades, will close its doors Aug. 31 (2014), a store management employee confirmed Saturday (June 21).

Read more: http://sanatogapost.com/2014/06/22/sanatoga-k-mart-store-signs-announce-closing/

Sears, Penney Sever Ties With Paula Deen

Sears Essentials (Kmart) logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NEW YORK — Paula Deen’s media and merchandising empire is collapsing.

Sears, J.C. Penney and Walgreen said Friday that they’re cutting ties with Paula Deen, adding to the growing list of companies severing their relationship following revelations that the Southern celebrity chef used racial slurs in the past.

Meanwhile, Paula Deen’s publisher has canceled a deal with her for multiple books, including an upcoming cookbook that was the No. 1 seller on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

Ballantine Books announced Friday it would not release “Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up,” which was scheduled for October and was the first of a five-book deal announced early last year. Interest in it had surged as Deen, who grew up in Albany, Ga., and specializes in Southern comfort food, came under increasing attack for acknowledging she had used the N-word.

Read more:  http://www.timesherald.com/article/20130628/NEWS04/130629609/sears-penney-sever-ties-with-paula-deen#full_story

Upper Darby’s Shopping District Losing More Than Sears

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The shopping district in Upper Darby, PA is losing more than their Sears store.  In addition, Marshall’s is closing January 14^th (but being replaced with Ross); the Turf Club has already closed and left a large empty building and Fashion Choice Jewelry is closing.  The vacant Sears store will leave two large empty buildings in the shopping district.

Sears has been a fixture and an anchor store in the Upper Darby shopping district for 30 years.  We here inPottstown can feel your pain.  Sears has been around Pottstown far longer.

The main reason for the closing is the economy (poor performance).  Since 2008 sales at Sears in Upper Darby have dropped 50 percent.  I would say the Pottstown Sears store is in the same boat.  Compared to Boscov’s and Kohl’s the Sears store is empty.  I could barely shop in Boscov’s last week because it was so crowded.

Sears employees losing their jobs can apply for positions in other stores, take severance, if they qualify, or be furloughed.

Pottstown And Upper Darby Sears Stores Closing

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Sears Holding Corporation just released their store closing list and two area Sears stores are on the chopping block.  The Coventry Mall and 69th Street Sears stores are closing.  No Kmart stores will be closed in Pennsylvania and no other Sears store in Pennsylvania will close, other than Pottstown and Upper Darby.

The Sears store at Coventry Mall predates the mall.  Originally Sears was in downtown Pottstown and moved across the river into North Coventry Township as a stand alone store.  When the mall was built in 1967, Sears was connected to the mall.  The Sears store is last surviving original anchor store at Coventry Mall. 

Sears retail stores have been in decline for several decades.  Sears was the nation’s largest retailer until the 1980’s but has declined considerably since then.  In 2005 Sears merged with Kmart.  Kmart purchased Sears and Kmart Holding Corporation changed its name to Sears Holding Corporation.

Sears built and owned what is still the tallest building in the United States, the Sears Tower in Chicago.  In 1993, Sears sold their skyscraper and moved into an office park setting in Hoffman Estates, IL.