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This holiday shopping season will be the last for Sears in Idaho Falls.
Grand Teton Mall's Sears will be closed for the next few months, but will remain open for the holidays. This series of Sears and Kmart closures is scheduled to take place in February, USA Today reported. Idaho Falls Sears will remain an option for Christmas buyers who do not want to buy the company's products online.
Idaho Falls Sears is one of the latest victims of the former Powerhouse department store.
Sears Holdings Corp., the owner of Sears, Kmart, the Kenmore brand, DieHard batteries and Shop Your Way, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month and announced its intention to close 142 unprofitable stores, according to Associated Press.
The company's last closure, announced Thursday, will affect 29 Sears and 11 Kmar in the country, USA Today reported.
A Kmart in Ammon closed in January. UHaul, a moving and storage company, bought the property and converted it into a storage facility.
The Grand Teton Mall management confirmed the closure of Sears, a 73,000 square foot pillar store, but declined to comment further. Three pillar stores – Dilliard's, JCPenney and Macy's – remain in the mall.
Hundreds of Kmart and Sears stores have closed nationally in recent years, as physical stores continue to struggle against their online competitors.
Al and Susan Crown, self-proclaimed "seniors" and residents of Shelley, were shopping at Sears on Friday. They said they did not shop often, but they hoped to close deals after they learned the store was closing. (There was no closing agreement yet).
Crowns generally buy everything they buy online from Sears or any other department store.
"They usually have better deals," said Al Crown. "And, hey, it's convenient."
Al Crown, who left Las Vegas to settle in Shelley, said Sears has been a silent shop in recent years, both in Idaho Falls and Las Vegas.
"When we were growing up, Sears was a lot busier," he said.
Matt Oler of Rigby said he came to Sears three or four times a year during the holidays.
"We have clothes and tools for older boys," he said. "It's mainly our Christmas shopping that we do here."
Oler said he was disappointed to see Sears leave. He does not know where he will go shopping next year.
"I guess I have to go to Walmart now," he says.
Reporter Ryan Suppe can be reached at 208-542-6762. Follow him on Twitter: @salsuppe.
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