Sears Holdings Corp. will close its store at Eden Prairie Center in November, the company said Thursday.
The closing is part of a series of actions the Chicago-based retailer is taking to cut expenses and transform its asset base. The announcement came on the same day Sears reported a sales decline and net loss in the May-to-July quarter.
Eden Prairie Center was developed and built by a Sears real estate subsidiary in the mid-70s and the store has been a tenant since the mall opened in 1976. Today, it one of the mall's five anchor stores, along with Target, J.C. Penney, Von Maur and Kohl's.
A liquidation sale will begin on Sept. 9, the company said, with a target closing date for late November.
A Sears spokesman did not have a precise number of employees who will be affected by the closing. All store employees will be eligible for jobs at other Sears and Kmart locations in the Twin Cities, he said.
Eddie Lampert, the hedge fund manager who now leads Sears Holdings as chief executive, is once again lining up financing for it, the company also announced. Lampert's ESL Investments offered to lend Sears $300 million this month, and Sears accepted. The loan is secured by a junior lien against Sears's inventory, receivables and other working capital.
In its earnings statement, Sears said it lost $395 million, or $3.70 a share, in the latest period, compared with a profit of $208 million, or $1.84 a share, a year earlier. The year-ago results were bolstered by the company's $2.7 billion spinoff of properties into a real estate investment trust. Same-store sales fell 5.2 percent.
Lampert has been selling assets and closing stores to stem the company's continued cash burn. Sears also said in May that it would explore options for its Kenmore appliance, Craftsman tools and DieHard batteries brands. That would extend a string of transactions, including the spinoff of the Lands' End clothing unit and the bulk of its stake in Sears Canada.
