page_title: Sears
section_title: Current operations under Transformco
hierarchical_section_title: Sears / Current operations under Transformco
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a closed Sears at the Stones River Town Centre. This store closed on February 11, 2019.
context_page_description: Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1893, and was reincorporated by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald in 1906. Formerly based at the Sears Tower in Chicago and currently headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, the operation began as a mail ordering catalog company and began opening retail locations in 1925. The first location was in Chicago, Illinois. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box chain Kmart, which formed Sears Holdings upon completion of the merger.
  Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States; Walmart and Kmart surpassed Sears in sales in 1990. In 2018, Sears was the 31st-largest retailer in the United States. After several years of declining sales, Sears' parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. Sears announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction and would shrink and remain open with 425 stores, including 223 Sears stores.
context_section_description: In April 2019, Sears announced it was opening three new stores with a limited set of merchandise under the name Sears Home & Life. Also that month, Sears closed its store at Windward Mall in Kaneohe, Hawaii, and its store at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois, making it the first post-bankruptcy closure for the brand since being bought by ESL.
  On June 3, 2019, it was announced that Transform Holdco LLC would acquire Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores. As per deal, they might need to divest its Sears Outlet division to gain approval. On August 6, 2019, it was announced that 26 stores, including 21 Sears stores, including the last Sears store in Alabama, at Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, and the last Sears store in West Virginia, at Huntington Mall in Barboursville, would be closing in October with plans to "accelerate the expansion of our smaller store formats which includes opening additional Home & Life stores and adding several hundred Sears Hometown stores after the Sears Hometown and Outlet transaction closes." On August 31, 2019, it was announced that Transform would close an additional 92 stores, including 15 Sears stores, by the end of 2019. 100 more stores closed by January 2020. 51 Sears stores were closed in February 2020, including the last full-line store in Las Vegas, at Meadows Mall, the last two full-line stores in New Hampshire, at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, and the Steeplegate Mall in Concord, as well as the last full-line store in Vermont, at University Mall in South Burlington. On January 23, 2020, it was announced that the Sears in Glendale, California, would close on March 15, 2020.
  Near the end of 2019, Sears sold the brand name DieHard to Advance Auto Parts for $200 million.
  On February 5, 2020, it was announced that the Sears stores in Livingston and New Brunswick in New Jersey would close in mid-April. On February 6, 2020, it was announced that seven more Sears stores would close in mid-April, including the last Sears store in Delaware, at the Concord Mall in Wilmington.
  After Sears started reopening, several Sears and Kmart stores began holding liquidation sales due to the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  On June 26, 2020, it was announced that the last Sears store in Maine would close at the Maine Mall in South Portland.
  On June 29, 2020, it was announced that the Sears at Rockaway Townsquare in Rockaway, New Jersey would close on September 13, and on June 30, it was announced that the Sears in Hackensack, New Jersey, the last freestanding Sears store in the state, would be closing on September 12, due to the Bergen County Blue Laws occur the next day which prevent non-essential retailers from opening, meaning there will be only one Sears store left in New Jersey, at Newport Centre in Jersey City, after these closures.
caption: A closed Sears store at Stones River Town Centre, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in April 2019, with signage still intact. The store closed earlier that year on February 11th.
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