Sears Holding Corporation will close between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores, the firm announced Tuesday.
The closures will "generate $140 to $170 million of cash as the net inventory in these stores is sold and we expect to generate additional cash proceeds from the sale or sublease of the related real estate."
Christmas sales were down at both Sears and Kmart outlets, with Kmart selling fewer consumer electronics and apparel, and experiencing fewer layaway sales; and Sears not doing well in consumer electronics.
Locations of the closing stores was not announced immediately. The company encouraged people to monitor www.searsmedia.com for a list of stores when it becomes available.
Kmart declined both in fourth-quarte and annual sales, the company announced.
"Excluding the effect of store closures, we currently expect to reduce 2012 peak domestic inventory by $300 million from the 2011 level of $10.2 billion at the end of the third quarter as a result of cost decreases in apparel, tighter buys and a lower inventory position at the beginning of the fiscal year," the company announced.
"In addition to the specific store closures, we will carefully evaluate store performance going forward and act opportunistically to recognize value from poor performing stores as circumstances allow," the company added. "While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment. We intend to accentuate our focus and resources to our better performing stores with the goal of converting their customer experience into a world-class integrated retail experience."
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