When the news came during the last few days of Kmart and Sears stores which will close across the country in the coming weeks, Richland County and Ohio fared quite well.
Neighboring states will see several closures; Pennsylvania, for instance, is set to lose 10 Kmart and three Sears locations. Ohio has only two closures – a Kmart in Warren and a Sears store in Cincinnati.
In a press release about the downsizing, Sears Holdings stated as follows:
“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. In the process, as previously announced we will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members.
The company on Thursday, January 4 informed associates at 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores that we will be closing these stores between early March and early April 2018.”
In late December, Business Insider estimated that 3,600 locations for national retailers will close in 2018, part of the continuing shift in consumers preferences for both online and bricks and mortar shopping. That story with a table showing which companies are impacted can be found at this location online.
