Sears To Close Store At Mall In Columbia

COLUMBIA, MD — Sears announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy early Monday. The retailer, which has been forced to close hundreds of stores in recent months, said it will close another 142 unprofitable locations near the end of the year, including one in Columbia.

Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, made the bankruptcy filing in federal court in New York the same day a $134 million debt payment was due. CEO Edward S. Lampert will step down effective immediately, the company announced, but will remain chairman.

The company is seeking a buyer for the majority of its remaining stores but said locations will remain open for the holiday shopping season.

"As we look toward the holiday season, Sears and Kmart stores remain open for business, and our dedicated associates look forward to serving our members and customers," Lampert said in a statement.

These stores in Maryland are on the list released Monday of locations slated to close:

• Bowie Sears, 15700 Emerald Way
• Columbia Sears, 10300 Little Patuxent Parkway
• Oxon Hill Kmart, 6163 Oxon Hill Road
• Prince Frederick Kmart, 835 Solomons Island Road North
• Westminster Sears, 400 North Center Street

The closures come after Sears shuttered stores in waves over the past year.

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 shuttered, according to Sears Holdings.

News that the Columbia Sears will go out of business comes less than a year after the store's grand reopening last November to mark the debut of a new service center 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," said Lampert said in a statement issued early Monday. "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."

• One Maryland Sears On List Of Stores Closing
• Sears In Columbia To Celebrate Grand Reopening
• Hunt Valley Sears Closing: Report

Sears, which last year sold off its famous Craftsman brand, has about 700 remaining stores and 68,000 employees — down from the 1,000 stores and 89,000 workers it had in early 2018, according to CNN.

Mohsin Meghji, managing partner of M-III Partners, has been named Sears Holdings' chief restructuring officer, and an independent restructuring committee has been formed.

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

• Annapolis, 1040 Annapolis Mall
• Baltimore, Security Square Mall, 6901 Security Square Boulevard
• Bel Air, 658 Baltimore Pike
• Bethesda, 7103 Democracy Boulevard
• 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

— By Patch editors Shannon Antinori and Elizabeth Janney.

Image via Google street view.