Sears in Uniontown Mall, East Huntingdon Twp. Kmart to close
Sears Holdings Corporation announced Wednesday that two local stores will be closing this spring.
The Sears store in Uniontown Mall and the Kmart store in East Huntingdon Township are among the 26 Sears stores and 79 Kmart stores nationwide that will shutter their doors at the end of March as part of the company’s latest round of closings.
“The decision to close stores is a difficult but necessary step as we take actions to strengthen the Company’s operations and fund its transformation,” Sears Holdings said in a Wednesday press release.
“I wish that circumstances were different,” Fayette County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Muriel Nuttall said. “I wish that Sears Holdings had come to a different decision.”
The closing of the Uniontown Mall Sears in South Union Township marks one of three announced in Pennsylvania, while the Mount Pleasant Kmart’s shuttering marks one of six in the state. Liquidation sales will begin as early as Friday at all closing stores, according to the company, which is closing both the department store and the auto center.
“Many of these stores have struggled with their financial performance for years, and we have kept them open to maintain local jobs and in the hopes that they would turn around,” Sears Holdings added in its release. “But in order to meet our objective of returning to profitability, we have to make tough decisions and will continue to do so, which will give our better performing stores a chance at success. Eligible associates impacted by these store closures will receive severance and will have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Kmart or Sears stores.”
South Union Township Supervisor Bob Schiffbauer said he was disappointed in the Sears closing but added that consumer interest was trending toward “power strip shopping areas” and big-box stores where people can park closer to where they shop.
“I’m not saying all malls are doomed, but you have to keep in mind, our area, Fayette County, is a … smaller market,” Schiffbauer said, noting the area’s long-term declining population. (The county’s population declined an estimated 16 percent from 1980 to 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.)
The latest round of closings for Sears Holdings follows the announced closing of an additional 30 Kmart stores and 16 Sears stores on Dec. 27.
South Union Township’s Kmart store closed in July 2016. Kmart and Sears completed a merger to form Sears Holdings in 2005.
Namdar Realty Group of Great Neck, N.Y., finalized a $23 million purchase of the mall last year from Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, which had owned the South Union Township mall since 2003. Neither Namdar Realty Group nor Uniontown Mall General Manager Pam Moore could be reached for comment Wednesday evening.
Mount Pleasant Mayor Jerry Lucia said a lot of his borough’s residents shop in the East Huntingdon Township Kmart.
“It will be missed,” said Lucia, who added that he was surprised the store is closing since it remained a popular shopping site, particularly in the spring and summer for lawn care products.
Lucia recalled that the Kmart opened in 1983 and predated the businesses that currently surround it.
Schiffbauer recalled that Sears was one of the Uniontown Mall’s original anchor stores dating back to the 1970s.
Nuttall noted that the Uniontown Mall’s other anchor stores — JCPenney, Bon-Ton and Burlington Coat Factory — still remain on what she called a “great property,” in addition to other retail stores.
“I don’t think Sears (closing) is the end of the mall,” Nuttall said.