Brostocks has reported extensively on the demise of Sears, particularly over the last few years since Sears Holdings declared bankruptcy in 2018. Since Sears reemerged under the new Transformco company, it dabbled briefly with smaller format Sears Home & Life stores that opened in 2019 which eventually all closed by 2023.
Transformco reacquired, out of bankruptcy, their previously spun off Sears Hometown stores in 2019 only for all of those stores to close in 2023.
With all of this news, and our extensive documentation of the number of full-line Sears stores shrinking to a paltry 11 Sears stores remaining, it seems to be a fact that Sears will soon reopen two full line stores that were recently shuttered.
Where are Sears stores re-opening?
It appears Sears will soon have two full-line stores reopening: the Burbank, California and Union Gap, Washington locations. A Puerto Rico based publication called elVocero.com reported on the company’s operations in Puerto Rico and also included the following in the piece:
In November of this year, the company hopes to reopen two of its stores in Washington and California, replicating the strategies executed on the Island. In addition, they intend to reopen some of their stores in Puerto Rico.
http://www.elVocero.com
The source cited in the article is Ramón Márquez, head of Operations and Marketing. Additionally, other proof of these eventual reopenings can be seen by doing a Google search of for job listings at both respective locations:
Additionally, the commercial real estate trade publication, CoStar, reported back in March that signs appeared on the Burbank location about re-opening.
The operations of Transformco are mysterious, to say the least. They have had no new press releases since 2022. They are privately held and it is quite a topic of intrigue to wonder what is driving the revenue of a company that appears to be a failing one. Could the reasons of the stores re-opening be related to lease structures or the inability to find new tenants? It’s hard to tell, but what is sincerely a huge surprise is to see Sears, which has been what in seems to be a permanent downward tailspin for the last few decades, possibly reopening full-line stores in the year 2023.
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Sears, Francis Scott Key Mall, Frederick, MD (visit)
Sears at Christmas in 2019
Sears at Christmas 2021
