Sears to Close Kmart, Namesake Stores

At least they waited until after Christmas.

Sears Holdings Corp. announced Tuesday that it will close 100 to 120 stores in its Kmart and Sears chains. The stores to be closed have not been announced yet, the company said, but will be posted at www.searsmedia.com.

No word yet, then, as to whether the store or the Sears at are among those to be closed.

Same-store sales at Sears were down 6 percent this quarter, while Kmart sales were down 4.4 percent, according to figures the company released Tuesday. Company officials attributed Kmart's declines to "decreases in the consumer electronics and apparel categories and lower layaway sales."

That, despite a rash of good PR in recent weeks as anonymous donors across the country  of strangers.

Sears Holdings, which was formed in 2005 by the merger of Sears and Kmart, expects the store closures to generate $140 to $170 million in cash by selling off the stores' inventory. More revenue would come from the sale or sublease of the stores' real estate.

"While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment," company officials said in a statement Tuesday. "We intend to accentuate our focus and resources to our better performing stores with the goal of converting their customer experience into a world-class integrated retail experience."

The company also plans to reduce the amount of inventory in its remaining stores, and to implement better inventory management and more targeted pricing and promotion campaigns.