Golf Mill Sears To Close By End Of Year

NILES, IL — The Sears store at the Golf Mill Shopping Center will close before the end of the year. The Hoffman Estates-based company announced its Niles location at 400 Golf Mill Ctr. began a liquidation sale on Friday and expects to permanently shutter around Dec. 16.

According to a statement from the village, Niles plans to work with the property owner on future tenants for the space and consider economic development tools around the mall.

"The Village is truly excited for the future of this area," it said. The village's statement also noted it is collaborating with the Niles Park District to transform Golf Mill Park at the south the mall. They intend to transform the park and adjacent land into a "regional destination" that will also reduce the risk of flooding.

According to a layoff notice submitted to Illinois Department of Commerce last week, 75 workers will be laid off as a result of the closure. None of the affected employees are members of a union, according to the notice.

Howard Riefs, Sears' director of corporate communications, declined to confirm how many employees were being let go or when the decision to close was made. In August, the company announced 46 Sears and Kmart stores would be closing in November. The list did not include any locations in the Chicago area.

More than 160 Sears and Kmart locations have closed over the past year. Sears reported a net loss of $424 million during the first quarter of 2018 and $508 million in the second quarter. Last month, the company announced second quarter revenues were down $1.1 billion compared to last year, with sales at Sears falling 4 percent.

In a release announcing the results, Sears Holdings CEO Edward Lampert said the company's goal was to "right-size" its number of locations and increase online sales.

"We continue to close unprofitable stores, and we are hopeful that we can stabilize our store base at a meaningful level in the near future," Lampert said.

The Sterling Organization, the owners of the shopping center, said Sears last year signed a one-year lease on the property running through the end of 2018. In a statement released to the Niles Journal, which was first to report the closing, the firm said the Sears closure means customers will no longer be able to walk between the north and south ends of the mall using interior hallways. It said talks are underway with multiple national retailers to take over the space from Sears.

Later this month, Niles trustees will vote on establishing two new tax increment financing districts. One, the proposed Milwaukee-Dempster TIF, would include the mall and extend from Howard Street to Golf Road along Milwaukee Avenue. TIF districts cap the amount of property tax revenue provided to local taxing bodies and redirect any increases into a special fund earmarked for improvements to the area. After the expiration of a TIF, which generally last between 10 and 20 years, the full revenue returns to local taxing bodies like schools, parks and the county, ideally with higher overall property values as a result of the improvements. The two districts set to be approved by the village board Oct. 23 would be the fifth and sixth such district in Niles.