Sears in Galleria at Crystal Run Set to Close

280 confirmed Thursday that the store’s days are numbered, with expectations it will be shuttered by April.

Sears’ shares surged as much as 6% Thursday morning to $8.64, after closing at a 52-week low on Wednesday following Business Insider’s report that the company was planning to close more stores.

Riefs declined to provide the number of employees whose jobs will be lost at the Jacksonville Kmart.

Photo credit: Google Maps. Kmart closed several stores in 2002 and 2003, including ones in Windsor and Manchester.

“The store will remain open until mid-April”, said Howard Riefs, who works for Sears main office. Most of the associates are part time or hourly employees, he said. Cafaro noted that Sears Holding Co. has even opted to close some stores that are profitable in order to cover overall operating costs.

This is the third such closing to affect the Weirton-Steubenville area – Sears Holdings closed the Kmart store in the Tri-State Plaza and the Sears store at the Fort Steuben Mall in Steubenville within the past 12 months.

Sears Holdings also recently announced the closing of a retail store and auto center in Paducah, Kentucky.

Sears Holdings Corp., the struggling retailer backed by hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert, rose the most in nearly two months after lining up a $200 million letter of credit to help fund its money-losing operations. The Waikele and Iwilei locations both shuttered this year.

“The decision to close stores is a hard but necessary step as we take aggressive actions to strengthen our company, fund our transformation and restore Sears Holdings to profitability”, Sears CEO Edward S. Lampert said in a statement earlier this year.

Sears reportedly has struggled since it combined with Kmart in a 2005 deal worth $11 billion.

Seritage owns 266 properties, mostly leased to Sears and Kmart stores, according to the company’s website.

The stores will begin liquidation sales on January 6th.