Sears is closing its last Chicago store after 80 years in business

Thomson Reuters

Sears is closing its last remaining store in Chicago.

• Sears is closing its last remaining store in Chicago.
• Sears was based in Chicago for more than a century. In its heyday in the 1970s, the company forever changed Chicago's skyline by building the iconic, 110-story Sears Tower.
• The company's sales have dropped from $53 billion in 2006 to $16.7 billion in 2017.

Sears is closing its last remaining department store in Chicago.

The company is shutting down the store, located in a shopping center called Six Corners, in mid-July after 80 years in business, The Chicago Tribune reports.

Sears was based in Chicago for more than a century. In its heyday in the 1970s, the company forever changed Chicago's skyline by building the iconic, 110-story Sears Tower, which held the record for the tallest building in the world for more than 25 years.

Sears has since moved its headquarters an hour outside of Chicago to Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and the name of the tower has been changed to the Willis Tower.

Sears has one remaining office of about 150 employees in the city of Chicago. But with the closure of the Sears store at Six Corners, there will be no remaining Sears stores in the city.

"For more than 120 years, Sears has called Illinois home and that is not changing," Sears spokesman Howard Riefs told the Tribune. "Although we are disappointed by this last store closure in Chicago, by no means does this change our commitment to our customers and presence to Chicago's residents."

Sears, which also owns Kmart, has been selling off brands and real estate to stay afloat amid years of falling sales. The company's sales have dropped from $53 billion in 2006 to $16.7 billion in 2017, and it plans to close more than 170 stores this year.

The latest closures, in addition to the Chicago store, include Sears and Kmart stores in Wilmington, North Carolina; Youngstown, Ohio; Brandon, Florida; and Saugus, Massachusetts.

Sears could close its store at Tacoma Mall in Tacoma, Washington, as well. The owner of the mall, Simon Property Group, recently revealed plans to demolish the Sears store and replace it with several buildings, including a movie theater.