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Moody's analysts say Sears and Kmart don't have enough money — or access to money — to stay in business. In a note published Wednesday, the analysts downgraded Sears' liquidity rating, saying the company is bleeding cash and will have to continue to rely on outside funding or the sale of assets, such as real estate, to sustain operations. "We recognize the risks associated with relying on these sources and continued shareholder support to finance its negative operating cash flow which is estimated by Moody's to be approximately $1.5 billion this year," the analysts wrote. Kmart in particular is...

Kmart employees believe the company is nearing bankruptcy and is in the process of shutting down all its stores. The chain has closed one-third of its stores in the last decade, and sales have been cut in half in the same time period. Store-level employees who spoke to Business Insider said many of the remaining 941 Kmart stores now appear to be in the midst of liquidation. Stores are being entered into numbered phases — such as Phase 1 and Phase 2 — employees said.

The slow, painful demise of Sears continues. The struggling retailer, which also owns equally troubled Kmart, reported a loss of $471 million in the first quarter, worse than a year ago. Sales fell more than 8%. Sears (SHLD) also announced that it may sell three of its iconic brands -- Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard. The company said it is looking at strategic alternatives for its Home Services installation and repair businesses as well. These three brands -- dubbed KCD by the company -- are still well-known and popular. In a pre-recorded call for analysts and investors, CFO Rob Schriesheim said...

Sears Holdings Corp. will close another 78 stores — 68 Kmart units, and 10 Sears stores — as it looks to restore profitability. That accounts for about 5 percent of its store base, which is nearly 1,700 stores. The ailing company, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, had said in February that it would accelerate the closing of unprofitable stores following a “challenging” holiday season. The move announced Thursday is expected to generate a “meaningful level” of cash from the liquidation of store inventories and from the sale or sublease of some of the related real estate, it said Thursday. All...

Major retailers in the United States are shutting down hundreds of stores, and shoppers are reporting alarmingly bare shelves in many retail locations that are still open all over the country. It appears that the retail apocalypse that made so many headlines in 2015 has gone to an entirely new level as we enter 2016. As economic activity slows down and Internet retailers capture more of the market, brick and mortar retailers are cutting their losses. This is especially true in areas that are on the lower portion of the income scale. In impoverished urban centers all over the nation,...

Sears is shutting down hundreds of stores. The chain announced today that it is accelerating store closings to 235 this year, 100 more than previously planned. Sears' total net loss for the quarter was $296 million. Sears' and K-Mart's collapse is "inevitable" and could happen by the year 2016, retail analyst and author Robin Lewis writes on his blog. "These two retail brands are dead men walking," Lewis writes. "As a retailer they're at the point of no return," David Tawil, cofounder of Maglan Capital and an expert in distressed retail companies, told Business Insider earlier this year. "The real...

Sears shares fell Thursday, after the struggling department store announced an adjusted net loss of $296 million—in line with the updated guidance it gave in November. The retailer also said it's accelerating the number of stores it plans to close this year, boosting its list from the 130 underperforming stores it announced in its second-quarter earnings release, to a total of 235 stores. Analysts called the move a step in the right direction for the company, which has been tapping into its real estate in creative ways to compensate for downward-spiraling sales. Still, they said the haircut won't be enough...

Columbia County, Ark. — There’s no sign of it here in Magnolia, Ark., but the boycott season is upon us, and graduates of Princeton and Bryn Mawr are demanding “justice” from Wal-Mart, which is not in the justice business but in the groceries, clothes, and car-batteries business. It is easy to scoff, but I am ready to start taking the social-justice warriors’ insipid rhetoric seriously — as soon as two things happen: First, I want to hear from the Wal-Mart-protesting riffraff a definition of “justice” that is something that does not boil down to “I Get What I Want, Irrespective...

Matt Walsh takes on Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving 1, Matt 0.  Here’s the play by play. Matt says that stores like Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Sears and Target (he calls them godless, anti-American) have ruined Thanksgiving by moving their opening times to Thursday afternoon versus the traditional Black Friday midnight madness.  He further sins by mistaking J.C. Penney as J.C. Penny’s, only proving further that in the halls of retail Valhalla, Matt really belongs in Helheim.  The man obviously doesn’t know his cufflinks from his garters. He reserves his special venom for Kmart (who owns Sears), which will keep its...

Sears Holdings Corp. said Friday that its Kmart stores were hit with a data breach that compromised some shoppers' debit and credit card information. The company is working with federal authorities and security experts to investigate the matter. The Secret Service confirmed Friday evening that it is investigating the data breach. The investigation indicates that the breach occurred in early September and did not affect kmart.com customers, the statement said.

WLS AM 890 just reporting that the Bloomingdale, IL K-Mart is being evacuated with a large police presence.

Sears’ second-quarter loss widened as the number of stores in operation declined and it dealt with lingering effects from its spinoff of the Hometown and Outlet brand. A series of retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Macy’s Inc. have reported disappointing quarterly results this month and have issued bleaker outlooks as shoppers grapple with an uncertain economy. Americans absorbed a 2 percentage-point increase in the Social Security payroll tax this year as well. That means take-home pay for a household earning $50,000 a year has been sliced by $1,000. Hedge fund billionaire Edward Lampert, who controls the company and took...

A JCPenney back-to-school ad that implies kids will be friendless unless they wear the right clothing is promoting bullying, charged a flurry of critics on social media this week. “Your ad about cool kids wearing JCPenney clothes, showing a child sitting alone at lunch is despicable,” fired off one Facebook user. Another added, “How clueless are you? What a horrible bully-promoting commercial.” Twitter users have called it “tone deaf” and “more self-immolation” for the company. The ad, posted online by the retailer in late July and aired as part of a TV campaign earlier this summer, includes a shot of...

Oregon mother Julie Keith expected to find Styrofoam headstones in the graveyard kit she bought at Kmart for Halloween. What she didn't expect was a desperate plea for help from one of the Chinese laborers forced to make the holiday decorations in brutal conditions. The 42-year-old charity worker from Portland discovered the chilling letter hidden between the two novelty headstones when she opened the kit in October. 'Sir: If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization,' the unsigned note, that was folded into eighths, read. 'Thousands people here who are under...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Police say a Massachusetts man left his girlfriend's 2-year-old son in a car while he went shopping for Black Friday bargains, then went home with his new 51-inch flat screen television and left the toddler behind. Police, alerted by store security, found the boy asleep in the vehicle in a Kmart parking lot at about 1:30 a.m. Friday. They forced their way into the car and took the boy to the hospital as a precaution. Meanwhile, they tracked the man to his Springfield home.

James, thought by some Biblical historians to be the half-brother of Jesus, issued a challenge to those of us who consider ourselves Christians: “Be doers of the Word,” he wrote, in the epistle that bears his name, “and not hearers only.” Rankin Paynter proved himself this week equal to the challenge set forth by James. The Winchester, Ky. businessman was shopping at a local Kmart that was scheduled to close its doors for good. He asked a clerk what was going to happen to all the unsold items and he was told that “power buyers” would take it all. So...

Sears Holdings (SHLD +4.34%) already said it would close as many as 120 Sears and Kmart stores this year in an effort to turn the business around. But that wasn't enough. The struggling retailer said Thursday it will have to tighten its belt even more. Sears is now planning to close 43 Hometown stores, 10 Sears Hardware stores and all nine stores in the Great Indoors chain. Hometown stores are independently operated, and sell hardware in mostly rural areas. Sears is also getting rid of clothing in 10 Sears stores -- perhaps in a test run for a chain-wide initiative...

Closings Announced in Dec. 27, 2011 Sears Holdings Update This list represents 79 of the 100 to 120 store closings that were announced in the December 27, 2011 Sears Holdings press release.Additional updates will be posted to www.searsmedia.com as they become available.Employment varies by store and format and at this time we cannot provide the total number of impacted associates. However, a typical store that is being closed employs between 40 and 80 associates. FORMAT STREET ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP Sears Hardlines Only 1916 19th Ave Lewiston ID 83501 Sears Hardlines Only Us Hwy 25e - Ste B2 Middlesboro KY...

Sears Holdings Corp. said Tuesday it will close 100 to 120 of its full-line Sears and Kmart stores as it struggles to attract shoppers. Sales for the fourth quarter are off a disappointing 5.2 percent compared with last year. “Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model. These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail – at the store, online and...

Between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores will be closed, Sears Holdings said Tuesday, after terrible holiday sales during what is the most crucial time of the year for retailers. Sears has yet to determine which stores will be closed, but there has been a clear shift in where the retailer will devote its resources. The company is moving away from its practice of propping up "marginally performing" stores in hopes of improving their performance. Sears said it will now concentrate on cash-generating stores. "Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to...