Sears store at Park Place Mall closing its doors

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - It's an end of an era for Tucson.

The Sears store at the Park Place Mall, which opened in 1961, is closing its doors.

A Sears spokesman confirmed the store will close in mid-July and liquidation sales will begin Friday, April 27.

"We understand members may be disappointed when we close a store, but our Shop Your Way membership platform, websites and mobile apps allow us to maintain these valued relationships long after a store closes its doors," said Howard Riefs, director of communications for Sears Holdings. "As a result, we hope to retain a portion of the sales previously associated with this store by maintaining our relationships with the members who shopped this location."

According to Seritage Growth Properties, the buildings in which the Sears store and auto center are located at the Park Place Mall are available for lease.

Seritage said the buildings for Sears locations in Phoenix, Yuma, Sierra Vista, Prescott, Chandler, Flagstaff, Glendale, Mesa are also up for leasing.

It is not clear how many people would be laid off, but Riefs said they would have the opportunity to apply for other positions at Sears and Kmart stores.

The future of the other Sears locations in Tucson is unclear.

The news comes as Sears stores across the country are closing, including the retailer's last department store in the Chicago area.

The retailer, which is now headquartered in Hoffman Estates, IL, has fallen on hard times, and has been shedding stores, employees and brands.

Sears sold its trademark Craftsman brand to Stanley, Black and Decker for about $900 million in 2017, Popular Mechanics reported.

Sears, which merged with Kmart in 2005, has suffered from plunging revenue.

The company closed nearly 400 Sears and Kmart stores in 2017, and it's closed about 60 stores this year, Business Insider reported.

Standards and Poors, a credit rating agency, said Sears Holding is in danger of defaulting on its massive debt and downgraded its status to junk in January and may lower it further as the company seeks to delay debt repayment, CNN reported.