Sears To Lay Off 68 With Closing Of Store At Northshore Mall

PEABODY, MA -- Sears will lay off 68 people when it closes its store in Peabody, according to filings made last week with the Massachusetts Department of Labor. The layoffs are effective September 2. The Peabody store was one of two in Massachusetts Sears said it would close as part of a plan to close 63 unprofitable stores in the U.S. that was announced last month.

The closures follow a round of closures last year, where Sears Holdings Co. closed 400 underperforming Sears and K-Mart stores. The Sears store at the Burlington Mall, which was part of the closings announced earlier this year, is scheduled to be demolished and replaced with a new structure, as well as outdoor pedestrian space connecting the new building to the existing mall.

Last month health club chain Life Time Inc. submitted plans to replace the Sears store at the Northshore mall with an upscale, three-story health club. The company, which has locations in Burlington and Chestnut Hill, want to build a gym that would have three indoor and one outdoor swimming pool.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).