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More than 100 Sears and Kmart stores to close, report says

 
In this May 14, 2012 file photo, shoppers walk into Sears in Peabody, Mass. The struggling retail giant Sears Holdings Corp. will lay off at least 5,457 employees and close more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores, many before Christmas, an online report said Thursday. [Associated Press]
In this May 14, 2012 file photo, shoppers walk into Sears in Peabody, Mass. The struggling retail giant Sears Holdings Corp. will lay off at least 5,457 employees and close more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores, many before Christmas, an online report said Thursday. [Associated Press]
Published Oct. 23, 2014

Struggling retail giant Sears Holdings Corp. will lay off at least 5,457 employees and close more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores, many before Christmas, an online report revealed Thursday.

Seeking Alpha, a financial news and analysis service, listed a Kmart with 68 employees in Zephyrhills among the stores already in the liquidation process.

No other stores in the Tampa Bay area appear on the report's "exclusive," but incomplete, list of stores slated for closing.

A Sears spokesman, however, said Thursday that the reported store count and list of closures was not accurate.

"We will update our store count in our Q3 financial results announcement later this year," Howard Riefs said. "All of these closing stores have been previously notified, and their associates and teams advised."

As the Tampa Bay Times reported last month, Sears shut its standalone auto service center at Westfield Countryside mall. It also renovated a portion of its department store there to make way for a Whole Foods market, part of Sears' nationwide strategy to better utilize the retailer's vast real estate holdings.

"As we have previously communicated, adjusting our physical footprint to focus on our best-performing locations is a core component of our transformation," Riefs said. "While this has resulted in store closures where appropriate — decisions that we do not take lightly — we continue to have a substantial nationwide footprint, with a presence in many of the top malls in the country."

Though Sears, like most brick-and-mortar retailers, has been hurt by growth in online shopping, the retailer continues to be one of the nation's largest employers. It has 200,000 employees, with more to be hired temporarily for the holidays.

In addition to Countryside, Sears has stores at St. Petersburg's Tyrone Square Mall; Tampa's WestShore Plaza and University Mall; Westfield Brandon; and Westfield Citrus Park.

Thursday's report said the retailer would close 30 Sears department stores nationwide and 46 Kmart stores. Kmart's remaining bay area outlets are in Kenneth City, Clearwater, Tampa and Lutz.

States hardest hit by the closures will be Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan, the Seeking Alpha report said.