Sears, the store that changed America, declares bankruptcy

“Sears, the once-dominant retail chain that changed how Americans shopped and lived, has filed for bankruptcy,” as CNN is reporting.

“The 132-year-old company has been struggling for several years and is drowning in debt. The final straw was a $134 million debt payment due Monday that it could not afford.

“Sears’ parent company, which owns Sears and Kmart, is among dozens of prominent retailers to declare bankruptcy in the era of Amazon.

“The filing in federal bankruptcy court in New York came just after midnight early hours of Monday. The company issued a statement saying it intends to stay in business, keeping stores which are profitable open, along with the Sears and Kmart online shopping sites. But it said it looking for a buyer for a large number of its remaining stores and that it will close at least an additional 142 stores near the end of this year, in additional to the 46 store closing already planned for next month.

“Eddie Lampert, the chairman and largest shareholder of Sears who engineered the merger of Sears and Kmart in 2005, gave up his title of CEO as part of the filing. The company will now be run by three of the company’s top executives.”

The rest of the article is here.

Author: jeffpelline

Jeff Pelline is a veteran editor and award-winning journalist - in print and online. He is publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine and its website SierraCulture.com. Jeff covered business and technology for The San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years, and he was a founding editor and Editor of CNET News for eight years, among other positions. Jeff has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from Northwestern University. His hobbies include sailing, swimming, and trout fishing in the Sierra. View all posts by jeffpelline