Sears to Announce Store Closures

Sears Holdings Corp. announced today it will close as many as 120 of its Kmart and Sears discount and department stores, following a continued holiday sales slump.An announcement as to which stores will be closing is expected soon, including the fate of the Sears location at the Steeplegate Mall. "Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model. These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail - at the store, online and in the home," said Chief Executive Officer Lou D'Ambrosio, in a statement issued today.Sears Holdings operates more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.The list of stores closing will be posted at searsmedia.com when final determination is made, according to the corporate website.