Sears Reportedly Closing Chicago Flagship

Sears’ downtown Chicago flagship store is closing, according to reports in Crain’s and Reuters.

The company did not respond to a request from JCK for comment by press time, but a spokesman told Reuters the store has lost “millions” since opening in 2001. 

In a blog post, chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert intimated the chain may close more stores, saying that decreased store traffic is making it turn increasingly to online. 

“We may need fewer locations,” he said, “Quite a few [retailers], including us, are now reducing their overall number of locations.… Other companies show that it is possible to serve the American public effectively and have a large and profitable business with a smaller store base. For instance, Sears and Kmart have about three times more locations than Sam’s Club and more than four times more stores than Costco.”

Lampert added: “As difficult as these changes are, we believe the alternative of failing to plan for or even see where the retail industry is heading would be far, far worse.” 

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JCK News Director

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