Business & Tech

Brick Kmart Survives Second Round of Store Closings

Sears Holding to close one store in New Jersey

Two local stores owned by Sears Holdings – the Brick Kmart store and the Ocean County Mall Sears location – will remain open through a second round of store closings.

In December Sears Holding that more than 100 stores would be closed in the future. At that time neither of the local locations was included in the list.

Of the 15 locations added to the list of store closures this week, only the Kmart on Route 206 in Hillsborough came from the Garden State.

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No New Jersey stores were part of the first – and much longer – list of closures released in December. 

press release issued by the company at the time said during the fourth quarter and during 2011 both brands lost money. That loss is being attributed to "decreases in the consumer electronics and apparel categories," according to the release. Another contributing factor was a drop in sales of "consumer electronics and home appliance categories." The sales of items like apparel were also flat which did not help the company's situation.

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In light of the losses, Chief Executive Officer Lou D'Ambrosio said changes will need to be made. "Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model."

According to the company, any further announcements of closures will be posted on their website


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