By edhat staff
Sears Holdings announced Thursday their Sears location in the La Cumbre Plaza in Santa Barbara will be closed by February, along with 39 other Sears and Kmart locations.
The struggling corporation filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 15 with approximately 700 total stores in operation. In June of this year, they announced 46 unprofitable stores would be closing, including the Kmart location in Goleta, and in October 142 more stores were planning to close.
Altogether, Sears Holdings will have fewer than 500 Kmart and Sears locations remaining. They have estimated about 400 stores could remain profitable if surviving bankruptcy.
The Sears location in off La Cumbre has been a mainstay in the area for several decades. The company owns the property where the retail store sits, and it’s unclear what will happen to the building.
Below is the list of the 40 stores set to close in February:
Kmart
California
Temecula: 26471 Ynez Road
Illinois
Chicago: 3443 W. Addison
Springfield: 3250 Clear Lake Road
Maine
Waterville: 18 Elm Plaza
New York
Huntington: 805 New York Ave.
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 7101 Roosevelt Blvd.
North Versailles: 1901 Lincoln Hwy.
Puerto Rico
San German: Castro Perez Ave. (Pr 122)
Guaynabo / San Juan: 100 Ave. San Patricio
Caguas: Betamces 400, Las Catalinas Mall
Wisconsin
Cudahy: 6077 S. Packard Ave.
Sears
Alaska
Fairbanks: Airport Way
Arizona
Phoenix: 4604 E. Cactus Road
California
Santa Barbara: La Cumbre Plz.
Connecticut
Meriden: 470 Lewis Ave.
Florida
Boynton Beach: 801 N. Congress Ave.
Jensen Beach: 3342 N.W. Federal Hwy. U.S. 1
Idaho
Idaho Falls: 2300 E. 17th St.
Indiana
Michigan City: Marquette Mall
Maryland
Bethesda: 7103 Democracy Blvd.
Michigan
Battle Creek: 5575 B Drive N.
Mississippi
Meridian: 1740 Bonita Lakes Circle
Toledo: 1001 Barnes Crossing Road
North Carolina
Winston-Salem: 3320 Silas Creek Pkwy.
Nebraska
Grand Island: 3404 W. 13th St.
Nevada
Las Vegas: 4355 Grand Canyon Dr.
New York
Saratoga Springs: 3065 Route 50
Watertown: 21182 Salmon Run Mall
Ohio
Piqua: 987 E. Ash St.
Pennsylvania
Reading / Wyomissing: 1665 State Hill Road
Stroudsburg: 344 Stroud Mall
South Carolina
Rock Hill: 2197 Dave Lyle Blvd.
Tennessee
Memphis: Southland Mall
Chattanooga: 401 Northgate Mall
Maryville: 198 Foothills Mall
Murfreesboro: 1720 Old Fort Pkwy.
Texas
El Paso: 750 Sunland Park Dr.
Longview: Longview Texas Mall
Virginia
Glen Allen / Richmond: 10101 Brook Road
Wisconsin
Janesville: 2500 Milton Ave.
Past Articles
Edhat Staff
LA Times reports that the current owner drove these stores into bankruptcy by using $6B to do stock buybacks when the stock price was over $100/share. Instead of using this money to modernize the stores or come up with a better business model, they kept the stock price artificially high to benefit the largest shareholders. Store closures now are the result.
By “owner” I think PITMIX means the current CEO.
Not a problem. Target is on its way! Hoorah!
Its a very large parcel, out dated in scope and functionality and likely a teardown. I wonder what will happen as their creditors are likely to sell the land/building. Could be an entirely new center, or likely a mix of condos, offices and retail. End of an era, but that store has been a sad scene for many years.
I’ll sure miss that “Sears Smell” – you know, that aroma of plastic, polyester, rubber and other ingredients that, if blindfolded in any mall in the country, you’d be led inside and immediately say, “Yep, we’re in a Sears!” Gonna miss ya’ Richard and Alvah…
Never have liked Target stores. So losing both Sears and KMart isn’t an ‘Hoorah’ moment for me. Been in several and never bought anything.
I hope it does not turn into more “luxury” apartment boxes.
There goes part the city’s new retail sales tax windfall.
How many vagrants haunt the Ventura shopping malls?
Might be a good location for the new SB PD HQ campus, along with vehicle maintenance fleet garage. Throw in an adjacent park/open space and you might have a deal with the neighbors. Save some space for future needs too.
Let’s see, I can shop around from my phone in the comfort of my own home. Or, I can waste my valuable time wandering through a smelly store with only 1-2 options of items. In case anyone doesn’t realize it yet, but retail is dead. Other than clothing, groceries, simple hardware, and maybe some household supplies there is no reason to go into a brick and mortar store any more. I, for one, see this as a good thing. Despite the inevitable complaints from “Change is Evil” crowd, this space is best suited for more housing of the “affordable” kind which we so desperately need.
There is a thing called the internet…
Shopping in Santa Barbara is a joke. Someday our city leaders will wake up and realize they have created a hostile enviroment for retailers. Oh well, I guess Ventura County will get all my holiday shopping money and associated sales tax dollars this year.
Sears was King in the 70s and 80s. That was quite a community center and loved running into the true local sb during those times. With no links to the past we drift aimlesslessly. ¡Huskys por vida! And that Made In USA Craftsman tools. Still perfect and will outlive me for sure.
Ill be honest Im bummed! Enjoyed shopping around the tool department here and bought items frequently. This will no doubt be a tear-down, turned into a mix use Shops below, pack and stack apartments above.
Wow it’s a bummer with Kmart gone and now Sears where can we buy kids/men’s clothes and prices were fair and good deals on tools Craftsmen! I guess we all better get used to going out of town to shop.
PERFECT spot for a combination CHP and Santa Barbara PD Headquarters / Station…
I liked the store, even with the Sears smell. When I needed a tool or an appliance I always shopped Sears first.
Hey Rex, the 70’s called and they want their observations back. Except for Walmart, most communities do not have a department store, hardware, clothing etc. Walmart’s it for millions of Americans in smaller metro areas across the land… It might do you wonders to go travel the country. Its friendly, beautiful and wide open and you’ll realize what you have here that most do not…
Neither the State or the City has the money to buy this property or the State & Las Positas property so lets try to keep in mind possible solutions as opposed to nice pie in the sky ideas.
I fondly remember the candy and popcorn booth on the top floor. When did that disappear? 1978, ’79? Or later?
Sears failed to adapt to new realities. Unlike Target they kept their stores perpetually stuck in the 1970’s. Their CEO specialized in cannibalizing companies, selling off the most profitable divisions (Craftsman tools, Kenmore, etc.) and using corporate leveraging. To see how it’s done watch season 3 of Fargo.
Me too! I was born in 1976 but clearly remember it. Maybe it closed in the very early 80s?
PITMIX is spot on. Sears CEO Eddie Lambert and his hedge fund ESL Investments positioned themselves to suck Sears and it’s shareholders dry after mismanaging the company for years. Most business journals have been writing articles about Lambert’s moves for a few years now. Guess who already owns much of Sear’s best real estate? Guess who own’s the bulk of Sear’s senior debt? Sure, he’ll lose his equity positions but he’ll make up for it with all he’s been sucking out of Sears …….. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/03/22/sears-holdings-ceo-eddie-lampert/99487518/ ………….. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/10/16/the-sears-bankruptcy-wasnt-inevitable/?utm_term=.1e13b7197b8a
OBSERVER: I think you missed my point. You said that most communities don’t have a department store except a WalMart. I’m saying WalMart IS a department store, which sells nearly everything under the sun. And i don’t live in any “bubble”, I’ve travelled extensively around the US.
One more time…..they don’t have millions to buy property…….that’s why they are looking at city owned sites…..some day, maybe some of you will have some idea of what you are talking about prior to jumping into the discussion…………….Not to mention that it’s not even for sale.
SANTABARBARAOBSERVER: Most communities don’t have a department store “except for WalMart”??? That’s a pretty big exception. Like saying California doesn’t have any coastline except their west coast.
I know its hard to imagine NatureBoy, but there are 350million +/- people east of you who live entirely differnt lives than you. Maybe you should get in a car or bus and go see for yourself? It might do you wonders to see this beautiful country and understand a little more about the people and the places that make up America. You’ll learn that most of the USA is nothing like SB or SoCal and you’ll also see for yourself how people really live out there beyond the bubble…
Not Lasarzig family – he/they own land under Robinson’s now Macys. Keep guessing you might figure it out.
Amazing knee jerk reaction to blame “city leaders” for the incompetence and greed of the business community. Included are the landlords that want Sears out of their “high end” shopping center and the creeps that took over Sears to bleed it dry. These behaviors are all aided and abetted by the tax laws and the new tax “relief” to corporations who can write off paper losses even when selling for a higher value. Meanwhile the people who work there and the rest of us are simply moved around the board like the pawns that we are.
Ojai has an incredibly good department store – Rains.
would be interesting to see if if would be cheaper for the SBPD to renovate the building to use for it’s purposes (fits the criteria except for not being downtown, but it does have the auto repair area also). Plenty of space and parking for its needs and wont displace other groups.
Or how about Walmart? We have Target coming in, why not Walmart? That would be a great replacement grocery store for the Vons that left that area as well as a replacement for the “department” store items.
Not knee jerk at all. Possibly worded poorly. The city is opposed to letting major retailers move in and has been for years. Hence nothing to replace those that close. As a result, my dollars will go to a more retail friendly municipality .
Staples, Vons La Cumbre, OSH, K-Mart & Sears. From what I’ve heard Macy’s might be next. When will Target be open to pick up the business? I’ve driven by the one on State and it doesn’t look good. Perhaps they will shelve it entirely. I’ll go back to Ventura to shop. WalMart, Kohls, JC Penneys, Lowes, & .99 Cent Stores you can shop in and not worry about being attacked. I really miss Mervyn’s though. I am also remembering the candy department in Sears fondly from my childhood. (There’s a See’s Candies in Goleta now!) Do you remember the diner in Sears as well?