Posted on 12/08/2016 8:26:32 AM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — As the Kmart store prepares to close its doors this month, concerns have grown that its affiliate, Sears, could do the same thing.
But Sears Holdings has said it is committed to continuing its operations at The Mall at Sierra Vista and has no plans to leave.
In a statement to the Herald/Review, Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications, said, “It’s business as usual at the store and we will continue to serve our members and customers, as we have for the last 17 years.”
However, around half of the approximate 87,000 square feet space that Sears occupies, including the Sears Auto Center, is currently available for lease, following its purchase by New York-based Seritage Growth Properties in 2015.
Sears Holdings now leases the building from Seritage Growth Properties.
“Under this agreement, Seritage contractually has the right to recapture the space occupied by the Sears Auto Center location and half of the space occupied by the Sears store itself,” said Riefs. “We have not received any notice from Seritage that they have immediate plans to change the store footprint.”
The available 43,189 square feet is being advertised on Seritage Growth Properties’ website, and is being handled by Western Retail Advisors, a commercial real estate firm in Phoenix.
Bryan Babits, a senior associate with Western Retail Advisors, said the space had become available for lease earlier this year, but there had been no interest so far.
“We have nothing lined up and the space is still being leased by Sears,” he said, adding that more than one business could potentially occupy the space.
“It could be another auto center, or it could be something completely different. It just depends on the interest from potential users,” he said.
Although Sears is the current tenant of the building, under the sale agreement Seritage has the right to lease to another occupant, if a more beneficial offer is on the table.
“If we have interest and it’s justified, then we can have discussions at that point in time,” said Babits, adding it would need to be “a significant commitment” to justify asking Sears to leave.
Seritage Growth Properties currently owns 224 properties nationwide leased to Sears Holdings, which owns both the Sears and Kmart brands.
Under a master lease agreement the company has the right to recapture certain space at each of those properties.
There is currently space available at 44 properties in Arizona occupied, or formerly occupied, by Kmart, Sears, and Sears Auto Center.
Seritage also owns the Kmart store building in Sierra Vista, and spokesman Jason Chudoba said the company was looking to fill the 86,079 square feet property as soon as possible.
“We are focused on the productive re-tenanting of that space,” he said.
Although there is no current interest from another company to lease the available space at the Sears store, Riefs said the retail outlet would continue to maintain a presence in Sierra Vista should a deal move forward.
“We would continue to operate in half of our existing footprint,” he said.
But when asked about any potential impact on jobs, Riefs would not speculate on any possible loss of positions.
“Seritage contractually has the right to recapture the space occupied by the Sears Auto Center, just as it does with many Sears locations it owns,” he said. “That said, the Sears Auto Center at Sierra Vista remains open today. The number of associates is not publicly available.”
Sears has been an anchor store at The Mall at Sierra Vista, along with Dillard’s, since it opened in 1999.
Sears.
Dead Store Walking.
How they’ve managed to stay alive so far is amazing. Having said that, I admit to have shopped there twice this year. That’s two more times than I usually do.
The guy who is running this really needs to let folks who know what they are doing take over... Sear’s is a depressing story, this guys treating retail like wall street isn’t working... hasn’t worked... and sadly this has gone on so long, I really don’t see how Sear’s can ever recover it’s identity. Its been more than a generation since its had any real relevance in the shopping consciousness.
It’s allowed its core assets to be sold elsewhere, Craftsman etc, so there is even less drive to go there.. and those brands have weakened in value as well.
Its one strong hold was appliances, but even that has been just nibbled away by big box stores etc...
I was at the mall on black friday, later in the day, and the Sear’s literally looked like just a typical weekday afternoon.. granted it was after their door buster times etc.. but still... How long can they just keep managing their slow death?
Will they ever really make a true effort to be on the offensive, and make a play?
On line shopping is killing stores people are to lazy to shop at a store they would rather flop out at the house and graze because they have nothing else to do.
My family still buys vacuum cleaners under the Kenmore brand from them. I also buy only Craftsman and Snap-On tools. I will be sad if both brands go bye-bye in the future. I have never had any quality complaints about their tooling, but love the fact I can go in and exchange dull screwdrivers for sharp ones due to their lifetime warranty. They are still made in the USA too.
The atmosphere is changing, and legacy marques could make a comeback under it. Sears had more of a name than K-Mart did.
Shopping malls are becoming extinct.
Sear’s was always in a better position than K mart.. K Mart was basically just wal mart in places that didn’t have wal marts... now that wal mart is national, it has no place to live... Its urban locations gave it some relevance, but that’s declined with time as well.
Sear’s however, lost its identity, even before this guy took it over, and hasn’t had one since... its been over a generation now. Sear’s used to be where everyone under a certain income level got nearly everything... why? Because they were the one place nearly everyone could get a credit card from... so, when you needed something, and you didn’t have a lot of cash, you went to Sear’s and used your Sear’s card... so nearly everyone in the upper lower, and lower middle class shopped at Sear’s... You couldn’t go into a blue collar neighborhood and find anyone who didn’t have a huge amount of everything they owned from Sear’s...
Now.... not so much.... It’s lost its identity, and the guy running it since the takeover is just unwilling to recognize he doesn’t know retail.. 20 years or whatever it is on now, and he still can’t recognize reality... he needs to let someone who knows what they are doing in this space take over.
Rising tides lift up all boats. Maybe the existing management may get a clue; maybe others in the organization may become inspired and give him a clue or successfully bump the clueless management out by appealing at the right level.
A mild austerity, such as what America has had, has made the experience passe for a lot of people. People often don’t go with a shopping list, but to get inspiration about what might be useful to them.
When I was there, it was no bigger than a Dollar General and most things had to be catalog ordered.
Its not the management, its literally one man Edward Lampert himself that needs to wake up. Until he does, Sear’s is just going to be forever stuck managing its decline.
Maybe it’s time for him to get tired of it and retire to some paradise.
Shopping malls are becoming extinct.
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I haven’t been to one in 20 plus years. Are “teens” the reason they are closing?
I buy my husband’s Joe Boxer undies from them. It’s a tradition at our Tucson store.
Sears was cool when you could but a house and have it shipped in raw materials form by rail to your homestead. It was also our Christmas dream book when we were kids. Maybe they need to return to their roots or maybe we do.
Interesting. Just yesterday I was up at a local (outside) mall about 35 miles away. There was a Sears store. I saw 1 (one) car pulled up next to the store. One.
Sears lost me when they outsourced their card to some 3rd-party fee-generating outfit in the late 1990’s. Almost never bought anything there again. Shafting your customers is a stupid business model (see Blockbuster - didn’t use them after 1994). Of course, they were going to go down anyways.
Why should I drive across town to the pet store to buy 30 lbs. of high quality dog food when I can order it online with free shipping to my front door for a little more than 1/2 price?
Like your never near the store in the first place move about if better for you what else are you doing watching TV.
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