LEWISTON, Maine — Sears is closing.
After 34 years at the Lewiston Mall, the store will begin its liquidation sale Oct. 19. It will shut its doors mid-January.
Unlike last winter’s mass closings, which saw up to 120 Sears and Kmart stores shuttered nationwide, Lewiston’s Sears is the only one closing now. Corporate spokeswoman Kim Freely said the store’s lease was up and Sears Holdings decided not to renew it.
Freely could not say whether Sears would move to another location.
“We haven’t announced a new store opening at this time,” she said. “I can’t speculate on that.”
Lewiston Mall’s manager said Thursday that he did not know Sears was planning to leave.
Sears employs 60 to 70 people in Lewiston, most of them part time. Freely said employees would be notified of openings at other nearby Sears locations and Kmart stores, which are also owned by Sears Holdings. Employees will have to apply for those positions. Eligible workers will receive severance pay.
When Lewiston’s store closes, five Sears will remain in Maine. The closest to the Twin Cities are in Augusta, Brunswick and South Portland.
Freely said Sears would honor all returns and gift cards at its other stores or online.
Sears is the second announced store closing at the Lewiston Mall. Fashion Bug is going out of business and is expected to shutter its stores between now and the end of the year.
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Obama,Mmmm,Mmmm,Mmmm.
How do you figure that?
Care to offer more details?
How do you figure that Obama is connected with Sears? I’m surprised that Fashion bug is still around. Their stores closed years ago near where I lived.
My surprise is that Sears is still running any stores at all. Years ago they did away with department supervisors so customers had no recourse with their problems. Then they changed their guarantee for the tools while cheapening the product line. Ditto for the vast majority of Craftsman products. I can remember my father in law buying one of those expensive riding mowers only to find out it was a POS and they wouldn’t deal with the problem. So after ruining their own brand name started selling other “name brand” merchandise but always for more money than the store down the street. Good bye Sears. I won’t cry when you’re gone.
Me too. I bought a snow blower from them and that will be the last thing I buy anything that says Craftsman. I finally took it to a local shop to get it repaired right. It’s too bad to see people lose jobs,but I will never darken their doors again.
I’m not surprised Sears stores are closing after the treatment I received from them a few years back. It’s a long story, but it was apparent Sears did not want to keep me or my family as customers. I will never purchase another appliance or product from them ever again. It saddens me to see a once excellent chain of stores sink so low in such a short time.
And that would be a bad thing because?
In the 50’s and 60’s, there was generally Sears/Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and Spiegal (sp), catalogs in the house, and they were really something, now, the Bangor Sears as far as I see is useless.
WOW THIS IS A SHAME, I WAS THERE THE DAY IT OPENED AND I VIDEOTAPED THE GRAND OPENING……#y’allwillbemissedsears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zy23pvkobU
No surprise for this store–over a year ago, the clerks were simply leaning against the counters or appliances and hardly acknowledging the customer to help.