Columbia Sears Closing Date Is Approaching By End Of 2018

COLUMBIA, MD —Sears announced it planned to close dozens of stores "near the end of the year." As that time is approaching, the closing date is coming into focus for the store at The Mall in Columbia.

The Sears at the Columbia mall will close on Dec. 31, according to store employees.

The struggling 125-year-old retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Oct. 15, the same day a $134 million debt payment was due from the chain. In its bankruptcy filing, it listed 142 unprofitable locations slated for closure by the end of 2018, including the Sears at The Mall in Columbia.

Over the past year and a half, Sears has shuttered stores in waves.

In June 2017, the chain announced the Hunt Valley Sears and Hagerstown Sears would close. The Sears at Eastpoint Mall closed in January 2018. A month earlier, its auto center shut down.

The closure in Columbia will come a little more than a year after Sears held a grand reopening to mark the debut of a new service center in November 2017 where people could see and buy items sold by Sears online. The store shrank from two floors to one in recent years.

"Over the last several years, we have worked hard to transform our business and unlock the value of our assets," Sears Chairman Edward S. Lampert said in a statement in October. "While we have made progress, the plan has yet to deliver the results we have desired, and addressing the company's immediate liquidity needs has impacted our efforts to become a profitable and more competitive retailer."

While Sears in Columbia will close for good on Dec. 31, some departments are closing sooner. The optical shop at the Columbia Sears is closing on Dec. 15. The auto center has already shuttered.

Until it closes, the store is holding several sales. Check the store's circular for the latest deals.

The Columbia Sears is at The Mall in Columbia, 10300 Little Patuxent Parkway.

RELATED: Sears To Close Store At Mall In Columbia

The company is seeking a buyer for the majority of its remaining stores but said locations will remain open for the holiday shopping season. This week Lampert placed a $4.6 billion offer to buy the remaining 500 Sears stores through a hedge fund, the Associated Press reported.

Bids for the Sears stores are due by Dec. 15, according to Fortune, which said there are likely to be other offers filed in bankruptcy court.

Reuters reported that Ace Hardware is interested in buying out the hardware division of Sears, while other companies that specialize in liquidating businesses are hoping to close the chain.

After the closures in 2018, there will be 12 Sears stores locations left in Maryland (not including appliance outlets, HomeTown stores or auto centers) in 2019:

• Annapolis, 1040 Annapolis Mall
• Baltimore, Security Square Mall, 6901 Security Square Boulevard
• Bel Air, 658 Baltimore Pike
• Bethesda, 7103 Democracy Boulevard (closing March 2019)
• Cumberland, 1262 Vocke Road
• Frederick, 5500 Buckeystown Pike
• Gaithersburg, 701 Russell Avenue
• Glen Burnie, 7900 Ritchie Highway
• Salisbury, 2306 N Salisbury Boulevard
• Silver Spring, 11255 New Hampshire Avenue
• Waldorf, 11170 Mall Circle
• White Marsh, White Marsh Mall, 8200 Perry Hall Boulevard

SEE ALSO: Sears' Biggest Holder Bids $4.6 Billion For Remaining Stores

Photos by Elizabeth Janney.