Sears closing 63 more stores after holiday season

Sears Holding Corp. has said that they plan to close 63 stores after the 2017 holiday season. Like most department stores, Sears is struggling with profitability during a difficult retail environment.

Employees were informed of the announcement last Thursday, coming right off of the news that Whirlpool Corp. would stop supplying Sears with some major brand appliances.

The closures are currently scheduled for late January, with plans to close 45 Kmart stores and 18 Sears stores. This will bring Sears total number of stores to 1009, around half of what it was in 2012 at a peak of 2019 stores. Sears was once the largest department store chain in America.

"Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base and will continue to right size our store footprint in number and size," a memo reads on the company's website.

"In the process, as previously announced we will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members," Sears said.

To help stay afloat, Sears has also begun selling off in-house brands and asked CEO Eddie Lampert for a loan.

Sears has been having a tough year, with their shares down 40 percent to date so far.