Sears Holdings announced this month it will close their Muskegon store in the Lakes Mall in March.
A liquidation sale should start in early January. The Lakes Mall Sears Auto Center will close in January.
The company is in bankruptcy, is struggling to survive, and the Muskegon location is one of 80 Sears and Kmart stores they say they are closing to “facilitate financial restructuring.”
Sears moved from downtown Muskegon to the mall in 2001. Earlier in 2018, Yonkers at the Lakes Mall closed leaving JCPenney, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Shoppers are sorry to learn it is closing.
“It’s something I grew up with,” said Sue Pustay. “Sears has always been a household name.”
“It’s kind of sad because all these stores are closing down because everybody is buying off the internet now,” said Kelly Carmean. “You put all this money into these stores and then all of the sudden they shut down, and not only that jobs, that is the sad part. These people who need these jobs.”
It is not certain any Sears or Kmart stores will survive the company's bankruptcy. The chairman of Sears Holdings has made a bid to buy what is left and keep about 425 stores open. But some creditors want everything sold and the money applied to company debt. A bankruptcy judge will decide.
The Muskegon Sears and another in the metro Detroit area are both expected to close. The company did not provide any information on the number of workers impacted by the closing.
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