Burnsville Center's Sears store will close in September; Gordmans to reopen

Burnsville Center's Sears store will close, but in an unexpected twist, its Gordmans will rise from the dead and reopen next week.

The developments are the latest musical chairs in the upheaval taking place at shopping malls and centers around the country amid the shift to online shopping and other changes in consumer behavior.

The Sears Auto Center in Burnsville will close in late July followed by the Sears department store in mid-September, confirmed Howard Riefs, a Sears spokesman. The store liquidation sale will begin on June 30.

It is among an additional round of Sears locations that the beleaguered chain will be closing this year, on top of 150-plus locations previously announced this year, as the retailer's sales continue to fall.

Among the other casualties in the region this year have been the Sears stores in Coon Rapids and Mankato. Last year, the company also closed a store at Eden Prairie Center, which is now being repurposed into a Scheels sporting goods store, and a Kmart in West St. Paul.

"We have been strategically and aggressively evaluating our store space and productivity, and have accelerated the closing of unprofitable stores as previously announced," Riefs said in a statement.

Macy's and J.C. Penney also have been closing hundreds of unprofitable stores nationwide as they retool their businesses for digital-savvy shoppers.

At the same time, Burnsville Center's owner, CBL & Associates, told the Star Tribune that its recently closed Gordmans store will be reopening in the same space on June 29.

That store was one of five Gordmans stores in Minnesota and dozens more around the country that closed in recent months after the company filed for bankruptcy. The others were in Roseville, Edina, Coon Rapids and Mankato. The location in Woodbury, however, has remained open.

A Stage Stores spokeswoman said the company will not be reopening any other Gordmans stores in Minnesota.

Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113