The Kennewick Sears store steered clear of three national closure lists this year but its luck has run out.
The most recent list of 80 store closures includes the one at Columbia Center mall. The closure also affects Sears Auto Center, which will close in January, according to the company.
All affected employees were notified Dec. 27. The stores will close in late March with liquidation sales beginning in about two weeks.
The company filed for bankruptcy in Oct. 15.
The closures aim “to accelerate (Sears’) strategic transformation and facilitate its financial restructuring,” according to release from the company.
The Kennewick store is the only Washington store included on the most recent list, though the closure list released in January included 39 stores, including Shoreline, Federal Way and Chehalis.
An October closure list included 142 stores, including Puyallup.
A November closure list of 40 stores didn’t name any Washington stores.
The 132-year-old Sears opened in Minneapolis as the R.W. Sears Watch Co. when there were 38 states and Grover Cleveland was president. In 1893, the corporate name of the firm became Sears, Roebuck and Co., according to Sears archives.