More Sears stores closing as retailer on brink of liquidation

Sears is closing 80 more stores as it teeters on the brink of liquidation. The 130-year old retailer had set a deadline of Friday for bids for its remaining stores to avert closing down completely.

The once-mighty retailer that began as a mail-order catalog in the 1880s has been in a slow death spiral, hobbled by the Great Recession and then overwhelmed by rivals both down the street and across the internet.

The 80 stores are due to close by March. That’s in addition to 182 stores already slated for closure. Sears Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October. At the time of the filing, it operated more than 750 Sears and Kmart stores.

The only current known proposal to rescue the company is a $4.6 billion plan put forward by hedge fund investor and current Sears Chairman Edward S. Lampert through his ESL Investments. If no final bid emerges come today’s deadline, the company’s remaining workers may lose their jobs and more stores than previously planned could be shut, sold or demolished. 

How Sears went from innovation to bankruptcy

Lampert and his hedge fund said in a regulatory filing earlier this month that ESL plans to offer $4.6 billion in cash and stock for the whole company, a move the filing said could save 50,000 jobs. But as Yahoo News points out, financing for the bid has hit roadblocks and the SEC could require Lampert to make a revised bid public.

If a bid is submitted, Sears’ bankruptcy advisers would have until Jan. 4 to decide whether a new bid from Mr. Lampert qualifies. If they approve, Lampert could then participate in a scheduled Jan. 14 liquidation bid auction, according to Yahoo and court filings.

Without Lampert’s ESL buying the company as a whole, liquidators are likely to split up the company, CNBC reported. The company notified employees it plans to shut the 80 additional stores by March, according to CNBC.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.