Illinois’s Hoffman Estates Sears, which now has less than a dozen locations, is allegedly searching for rent breaks in order to maintain operations.
According to Bloomberg, Sears is negotiating rent reductions for its 11 remaining properties, which are spread across four states—California, Washington, Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico—with Huron Consulting Group Inc.
In 2005, Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments, acquired Sears and consolidated it with ESL’s Kmart operations; together, the funds ran 3,500 locations. As Sears Holdings attempted to profit from its real estate, store closings soon followed and went on for years.
Less than 700 stores remained in the combined count at the time bankruptcy was declared in 2018. The next year, Lampert established Transformco, a new company that bought 400 Sears and Kmart locations. This led to more store closings.
This month is the last Kmart store to close in the United States mainland. Kmart still has a location in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and a smaller convenience shop in Miami.
The retail businesses of Sears and Kmart continue mostly as online businesses.
