As part of yesterday’s bankruptcy filing, Sears will close its last Tulsa store. The Woodland Hills Mall location will close before the end of the year. The 21stand Yale store closed last year.
Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, with plans to shutter 142 unprofitable stores in the hopes that it can stay in business.
The question now is whether a smaller version of the company that once towered over the American retail landscape can be viable. Sears, which started as a mail order catalog in the 1880s, has been on a slow march toward extinction as it lagged far behind its peers and incurred huge losses over the years.
At its peak, the operator of Sears and Kmart had 4,000 stores in 2012 but will now be left with a little more than 500.
"This is a company that in the 1950s stood like a colossus over the American retail landscape," said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultancy. "Hopefully, a smaller new Sears will be healthier."
Others don't share Johnson's optimism.
"That a storied retailer, once at the pinnacle of the industry, should collapse in such a shabby state of disarray is both terrible and scandalous in equal measure," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, in a note published Monday. "In our view, too much rot has set in at Sears to make it viable business."