‘Doubt’ expressed that Sears and Kmart stores will survive

In the middle of the morning, the company’s title had tumbled 13% on the New York Stock Exchange.

The PBGC, which itself has faced financial strains, would guarantee a percentage of Sears Holdings retirement benefits “up to a certain point”, said Olbrysh.

He added: “Sears stores are pathetically badly inventoried today and they will become worse”.

Sears still has stores in Grandville and Greenville, and Kmart still has locations in Greenville and Hastings.

Macy’s is closing 68 of its 730 stores nationwide this spring, including the anchor stores at the Westland and Eastland malls.

Sears also recently initiated a restructuring program targeted to deliver at least $1.0 billion in annualized cost savings and completed the sale of its Craftsman brand for about $900 million. “This is a symbolic acknowledgement of the end of Sears of what we know it to be”. But Sears has continued to struggle, with revenue declining 12 percent to $22.1 billion past year.

Sears has disclosed it may not be able to continue as a going concern despite a turnaround effort that has included selling stores and moving to a membership-focused business model. It says it hopes those actions are enough to ward off the “substantial doubt” that it warned about in the filing. But it says its pension agreements may prevent the spin-off of more businesses, potentially leading to a shortfall in funding.

Their difficulties in integrating online and in-store sales while offering products consumers want have prevented the one-time leaders of United States retailing from capitalising on the 15-year high in consumer confidence that has lifted ecommerce retailers led by Amazon and newer specialist retailers such as beauty store Ulta.

Here are a few things that are killing Sears and Kmart. We’re leaving storied retailers scrambling for relevance, even survival, in a rapidly evolving digital environment where e-commerce makes individual shoppers king.

Sears Holding Chairman and CEO Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart in 2005, about two years after he helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy.

Founded in 1886, Sears was built around its famous catalog that was so complete that entire houses could be ordered – delivered in pieces to be built on a site.

A Sears store in the Woodbridge Center. The firm Lampert created, called Sears Holdings (SHLD), could now be heading for bankruptcy, an ignominious end for an iconic 124-year-old American retailer.

Retail analysts suggested the situation might get worse before it gets better for Sears, which began in 1886, and for Kmart, which began in 1899. Overall, revenue has declined 44 percent since 2012, when the company generated $39.9 billion in sales. Seritage Growth Properties (SRG), the real estate investment trust created to own some Sears property, has fallen 2.3% to $42.54. Merchandise inventories as of January 28 fell to $4 billion, compared to $5.2 billion as of January 30, 2016, while merchandise payables dropped to $1 billion this year from $1.6 billion last year. That compared with a loss of $580 million, or $5.44 per diluted share, a year earlier.

It was the sixth consecutive quarter of losses.

Like a chess player who realizes their only chance of not losing is a tornado that whisks the table away, Sears Holdings is now making it clear to investors that there’s a good chance the company won’t be around much longer. Analysts said Sears Holdings did little to invest in either the Sears or Kmart brand, instead trying to cut its way back to profitability by trimming advertising and closing stores.