More than 200 Sears, Kmart stores set to close

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Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg

Shoppers wait in line at dawn outside a Kmart discount store, operated by Sears Holdings Corp., ahead of Black Friday.

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David A. Arnott

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Sears Holdings Corp. said it plans to close 235 stores this year as part of ongoing efforts to revamp its operations.

The Chicago Tribune explained that the parent of Sears and Kmart stores said it posted a loss of $548 million for the most recent quarter, which was slightly greater than the loss it posted in the same period last year. That was actually less than the loss it projected last month, the report added, when Sears said it expected losses totaling between $590 million and $630 million.

It's still not clear what CEO Edward Lampert's ultimate goal is, but on the company's earnings call he said, "The fact of that the matter is that a number of our stores are simply in the wrong place and are often too large for our needs. Restoring these locations to profitability is unlikely," as quoted by the Wall Street Journal. In August, the Tribune said, Sears acknowledged plans to close 130 stores.

The New York Times quoted one analyst saying that closing 235 stores, coupled with Sears' previously-stated plan to bundle hundreds of other stores into a real estate investment trust, among other factors, indicates the company "is far from being on a path of recovery."

All three reports pointed out that in recent months, Lampert has spearheaded an effort at Sears to raise cash, which the company says resulted in $2.2 billion this year alone. Even so, the Tribune cited an estimate from Fitch Ratings that Sears will run out of cash in two years and quoted another analyst saying all the positive moves the retailer has made are being buried under $1 billion of negative cash flow. -- Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, New York Times

David A. Arnott is assistant news editor with The Business Journals.