ICYMI: Fate Of Sears, With 1 Rhode Island Store, May Come Monday

The future of Sears and its Kmart brand are expected to be decided Monday in Manhattan. The iconic retail giant was given another shot for survival by a bankruptcy judge following news reports that the company was very close to liquidating.

Sears, which filed for bankruptcy protection in October, announced more than 250 store closings in 2018. Last week, the 126-year-old Sears, which has one Rhode Island location, was given another week to survive amid last-ditch negotiations. Eddie Lampert, the company’s chairman, was given the chance to improve upon his $4.4 billion bid to acquire the company and keep it’s roughly 400 stores operating. His initial bid was deemed “insufficient.”

On Monday, a bankruptcy court will hold an auction where the people owed money by Sears will weigh his latest plan to keep the stores open and its roughly 50,000 workers employed. In other words, they’ll have to decide whether they’ll recover more money by allowing Lampert to keep the company going or by systematically selling the chain off. Lampert was the only person to put forth a proposal to save the struggling chain in its entirety, according to The Associated Press. He sweetened his bid for Sears to more than $5 billion and added a $120 million cash deposit through an affiliate of his ESL hedge fund. Lampert, who took control of Sears in 2005, has said publicly he wants to rescue the company because he thinks it can still succeed.

“For as long as I have been involved with Sears, I have cared deeply about the company, its associates and the people they serve,” Lampert said in a statement sent through ESL to AP. “While the opportunity I saw from the start for Sears to benefit from the disruptive changes in retail and technology has not worked out so far, it is still there to be taken. Every transformation involves perseverance and risk, but I am hopeful that we can execute better and faster on the smaller platform we are bidding on ... There is every reason to fight for its future.”

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It wasn’t immediately clear what will happen to North Kingstown's store if the company liquidates, though many in New England have been slated to close.

Sears’ most recent store closures were announced on Dec. 28, the same day Lampert made his bid for the company. The 80 stores announced for closure that day will terminate business in March 2019. An additional 40 store closures announced in November will close in February 2019.

The Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October, announcing the closure of 142 unprofitable locations at the time.

Patch national staffers Feroze Dhanoa and Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Check back for updates as we learn more about the liquidation proceedings. Patch will update this report if any store closings are announced.

Photo credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images