Kmart to Close Another 64 Locations
September 19 2016 - 2:30PM
Dow Jones News
Kmart is closing another 64 locations, according to a person
familiar with the matter, as the struggling department store chain
continues to shrink its footprint.
The latest closures, which were announced to employees, are in
addition to a decision in April by parent Sears Holdings Corp. to
close about 68 Kmart stores this year. The chain had 941 locations
as of Jan. 30, meaning it has now announced plans to close about
14% of its locations.
A Sears spokesman said the company will provide an updated store
count when it releases its next quarterly earnings report. News of
the closures were earlier reported by Business Insider.
The 64 Kmart store closings include 17 locations that are part
of Seritage Growth Properties, a real-estate investment trust that
Sears created last year, the person familiar with the situation
said. Seritage disclosed the 17 closures in a securities filing on
Friday, but didn't say whether they were Sears or Kmart
locations.
Over the past five years, Sears Holdings has shut more than 400
Kmart discount stores and supercenters, or about a third of the
chain's locations, according to regulatory filings. In an unusual
move, the retailer recently spent money to remodel and reopen a
location in a Chicago suburb.
Kmart posted an operating loss of $292 million on sales of $10.2
billion in its last fiscal year, ended in February. It has
cumulative operating losses of $1.06 billion in the last three
years. Sears Holdings ended the latest quarter with about $276
million in cash and long term debt of $3.4 billion.
Last week, Moody's downgraded its rating on Sears' speculative
grade liquidity rating noting the company will continue to rely on
external financing and selling assets to fund its operating losses.
Moody's estimated the company's operating cash flow will be
negative $1.5 billion this year.
Write to Suzanne Kapner at Suzanne.Kapner@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 19, 2016 14:15 ET (18:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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