[REUTERS] Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O) is closing eight of its namesake department stores and 35 Kmart locations to cut costs and square footage in an effort to return to profitability, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert said on Friday.
Close stores = increased profits.
The store closings are in addition to 150 the company announced in January. Once the largest U.S. retailer, Sears has struggled with years of losses and declining sales as shoppers have shifted from the mall to the web. The company said in February it would cut costs this year by at least $1 billion.
Zero stores = infinite profits
Shares of Sears fell as much as 4.8 percent in afternoon trading.
Just ask Montgomery Ward.
"This is part of a strategy both to address losses from unprofitable stores and to reduce the square footage of other stores because many of them are simply too big for our current needs," Lampert wrote in a blog post. (bit.ly/2u03gDc)
A Sears spokesman declined to say how many jobs would be lost from these store closures. He said employees who are eligible would receive severance and be able to apply for open positions at area Sears or Kmart stores.
Lampert added that Sears expects to open more smaller-format stores while shrinking its large, less-competitive ones. He said Sears was on track to meet its cost-cutting targets.
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