Sears Closing Ocean County Mall Location By April

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Sears at Ocean County Mall will be closed by April, one of more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide that the chain is closing, the company said in an announcement Thursday.

"Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base and will continue to right-size our store footprint in number and size," the company said in a news release that named the stores to be closed.

Sears had announced plans in November to close 60 stores in early 2018, according to a USA Today report. Those stores were set to close this month. The new list of closures is in addition to the 63 announced in November. The retailer closed 358 locations in 2017, according to a report by Clark.com, a website that focuses on consumer news.

The Ocean County Mall location was one of the anchor stores when the mall originally opened in 1976 and occupies more than 100,000 square feet of space.

The Sears Holdings announcement said the closures are part of the company's continuing effort to "transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members."

Employees in the affected stores — 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores — were notified Thursday. The company said eligible associates will receive severance and will have the opportunity to apply for open positions at other area Kmart or Sears stores, the announcement said. It did not say how many employees would be affected. The majority of the jobs are part-time positions, according to a CNBC report.

Liquidation sales at the store will begin Jan. 12.

The automotive center at the Ocean County Mall Sears will close by late January, according to the full listof closures in the Sears announcement.

There are 20 remaining Sears locations in New Jersey, including three in Monmouth County, at Seaview Square Mall in Ocean Township, at Freehold Raceway Mall in Freehold and one on Route 35 in Middletown.

None of the Kmart locations closing in this list are in New Jersey. There are 17 Kmarts in New Jersey, including ones in Brick, Toms River, Wall and West Long Branch.

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