Champaign Sears Store Closing In January

A spokesman for Sears Holdings Corporation says the company has announced the Champaign store at Market Place Mall will close in January. 

Howard Riefs said a liquidation sale started there Friday.

The announcement of the closure came in February of 2012, when the Champaign store and 10 others in other states were sold to General Growth Properties, which owns Market Place Mall.

Riefs says the closures were part of a series of actions to "reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of the business model," he said.  "The actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail - at the store, online and in the home."

He says the 56 employees at the Champaign store will have a chance to apply for jobs at other Sears and Kmart stores, and will receive a severance package.  

The Champaign Sears store first opened in 1975.  Sears locations remain open in Danville, Mattoon, and Bloomington.