Sears to close more stores

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Sears continued to struggle in its second quarter with declining sales amid heightened competition from the likes of Walmart to Amazon. It now says it will close even more stores.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill., retailer, which operates Sears and Kmart stores, has been trying to cut costs by closing stores, including 180 this year and already had plans to cut another 150 stores. It now plans to shutter an additional 28 Kmart stores.

In Ohio, the Massillon Kmart store is on the closure list released today. In Pennsylvania, the Willow Grove and Allentown stores are to close.

After nearly 48 years in business, the Boardman Kmart store on U.S. Route 224 closed in spring 2016. That location has since been demolished. The Warren location on Parkman Road also closed in spring 2016.

Kmart’s Austintown location on Mahoning Avenue remains open.

“The retail environment remained challenging,” Sears Holdings Corp. said in a statement.

The company reported Thursday that its second-quarter loss narrowed to $251 million, or $2.34 per share. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.16 per share.

Revenue fell 23 percent to $4.37 billion in the period. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of a retailer’s health, dropped 11.5 percent. At Kmart, the measure dropped 9.4 percent, while at Sears stores, that figure was down 13.2 percent.

Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert, whose hedge fund has forwarded millions in funding to keep Sears afloat, has long pledged to turn the company’s fortunes around and that the retailer would find ways capitalize on its best-known brands such as Kenmore appliances and DieHard car batteries, as well as its vast holdings of land.

Last month, it began selling its appliances on Amazon.com.