Bankrupt Sears and Kmart are kicking off their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving and reminding customers that they are 'open to serve them'

Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters

Sears is opening stores for Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving.

• Sears is kicking off its Black Friday sales early on Thanksgiving this year.
• Kmart stores will be open from 6 a.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving and reopen at 6 a.m. on Black Friday. Sears stores will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and close at midnight, then reopen at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.
• The retailer is looking to capitalize on the holiday shopping season and boost sales after it filed for bankruptcy in October.

It has been a rocky run for Sears and its sister store, Kmart. In October, parent company Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced it would be closing more than 100 stores before the end of the year.

But it's not giving up without a fight. The beleaguered chain is ramping up for the holiday shopping season and reminding customers that it's still very much open for business.

Read more: Sears, once the largest retailer in the world, has filed for bankruptcy and is closing 142 stores. Here's how it got there.

"We want our members and customers to know that we're open to serve them online and in stores, both at Kmart and at Sears," Peter Boutros, chief brand officer for Sears and Kmart, said in a press release on Thursday, which also announced the retailer's Black Friday store hours.

This year, Kmart stores will be open from 6 a.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving, before reopening at 6 a.m. on Black Friday - a slight extension on last year's opening hours.

Most Sears stores will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and close at midnight, then reopen at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.

Shoppers should expect to see some big discounts, especially as the company looks to clear inventory from the 142 stores that it said it would be closing before year-end.

In Thursday's press release, it offered a teaser of those deals, which include a 55% discount on a Kenmore refrigerator.

When it filed for bankruptcy, Sears announced that its somewhat controversial CEO, Eddie Lampert, would be stepping down from that role but staying on as chairman.

"Over the last several years, we have worked hard to transform our business and unlock the value of our assets," Lampert said in a statement to the press at the time. "While we have made progress, the plan has yet to deliver the results we have desired, and addressing the Company's immediate liquidity needs has impacted our efforts to become a profitable and more competitive retailer."

Some have blamed Lampert for the company's downfall. He has been accused of leaving its stores to rot by failing to invest in improvements or provide the necessary amount of staff.

Read more about Black Friday 2018:

• What you need to know about Black Friday this year
• Black Friday sales are starting soon - here's when stores will open
• Online retailers are in a bitter competition for holiday shoppers - and customers are winning
• Amazon just ratcheted up the war for holiday shoppers with an unprecedented promotion
• These are the best stores to shop for toys now that Toys R Us has died