Sears Holdings Corp. announced plans to shut down a total of 235 stores across the Kmart and Sears brands, more than was previously planned, to try to bring the business back from the brink of destruction, USA Today reported on Thursday.
The announcement was made during a third-quarter earnings statement on Thursday that noted store sales dropping.
Sears is planning to, or has already, closed 235 poorly-performing stores this year, most of them being Kmarts. That's a roughly 100 store increase from the original number of 130 locations that the company said would be closing earlier this year. Nationwide, there are 1,830 Kmart and Sears stores.
The company is hoping an increase in sales will come from shoppers who move to the web, maintaining sales numbers.
"Our stores are often in the wrong place and are often too large for our needs," CEO Edward Lampert said.
For the period ending Nov. 1, Sears lost $548 million, or $5.15 a share. That's up from a $534 million loss, or $5.03 a share, in the same period a year ago.
Shares of Sears are now worth $32.75.
The loss is blamed on Lands' End, a Sears spin-off brand, Sears Canada and store closures.
"We remain intently focused on delivering an unparalleled integrated retail experience for our customers through Shop Your Way and, above all, returning Sears Holdings to profitability," Lampert said.
Though closing stores are bound to help its losses, Moody's analyst Scott Tuhy said that won't quite be enough for a company that's losing about $300 million. Brian Sozzi, of Belus Capital Advisors, said the retailer should close another roughly 200 stores in 2015, Yahoo finance reported.
But there is a silver lining, and Sears added that sales were flat. But Tuhy reminded that one good quarter is not evident of a trend.
"The soul of this report is really bad," Sozzi said.
