After 79 years as a retail fixture in the city, Sears will close its namesake department store at the Longview Mall in February.
Illinois-based Sears Holdings said Thursday it was planning to close the store in Longview, one in El Paso and another 38 Sears and Kmart stores across the U.S. after the Christmas holidays. The company operates both its namesake Sears department stores and Kmart discount stores.
Sears, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, is trying to reorganize in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In announcing the latest closings, it said it is accelerating “its strategic transformation and facilitating its financial restructuring” with liquidation sales expected to begin late next week. The accompanying Sears Auto stores also will close.
The retailer previously announced it will close 142 unprofitable stores by the end of the year, including its store at Broadway Square Mall in Tyler.
If the Longview store closes in February, it would come along with the 79th anniversary of Sears’ presence in Longview.
The retailer opened its first department store in February 1940 at 102 E. Methvin St., directly south of the Gregg County Courthouse. In 1959, it opened its new store on South High Street, in the building that now houses Kilgore College-Longview.
Its store at Longview Mall was still under construction when the mall opened in 1978. Along with J.C. Penney and Dillard’s, it is one of the mall’s three main anchor stores.
Cindy Richardson, manager at the Sears store in Longview Mall, declined comment Friday morning and referred calls to the corporate office. A display inside the store says “Now Hiring” and encourages job seekers to “start an exciting, fulfilling career” by applying at jobs.sears.com .
Mall Marketing Director Monica Hale said it was clear changes are coming to the mall, and there would be news soon.
“I would just say we are excited to see what happens next,” she said. “Our mall is doing exceptionally well, and I expect it to continue to do so.”
The closure announcement came as no surprise to Richard Manley, chairman of the Longview Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s going to be imperative that we find a replacement (for Sears), and that’s something that the chamber or (Longview) Economic Development (Corp.) can work together on,” he said.
The pending closure did surprise Doris Waggoner, who lives in Longview and arrived at the Sears parking lot Friday morning to go for a walk with her husband, Herbert Smart.
“I thought that one was going to stay open,” Waggoner said, referring to previous news of announced closings that, until Thursday, had not mentioned Longview. She said she used to buy filters for her refrigerator at Sears but now saves money by purchasing them online.
She called the Longview store a “tradition,” adding, “It has been here so long.”