These Sears and Kmart stores are closing, liquidation sales to start this week

(FOX BUSINESS) -- Transform Co. is preparing to close more Sears and Kmart stores as the company moves toward small-format locations.

The stores on the chopping block include 21 Sears locations in 15 states and five Kmarts in three states and Puerto Rico, according to the company. Liquidation sales are expected to start at those stores later this week.

Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last fall. Its parent company is now trying to expand by opening new small-format Home & Life stores. It’s also preparing to add several hundred smaller Sears Hometown stores which had been sold off in 2012.

In a statement announcing the latest round of closures, the company said it believes this is “the right course for the company” to accelerate its small-store expansion.

The stores will close in late October, the company said. Sears Auto Centers at the affected stores will close later this month.

The company said employees will be offered the same number of weeks of severanceoffered when Sears Holdings Corp. filed bankruptcy in 2018 — former employees told Vox it was eight weeks, but it reportedly hasn't been easy for them to get paid.

Transform Co. said it couldn’t rule out more store closures in the future.

“Our goal remains to return the company to profitability and preserve as many jobs as possible in the communities we serve,” the company said in a statement.

Here are the stores set to close (stores with * have a Sears Auto Center):

– Kmart 1625 W Redlands Redlands, California

– Kmart 14011 Palm Drive Desert Hot Springs, California

– Kmart 159 Wilbraham Road Palmer, Massachusetts

– Kmart 975 Fairmount Avenue Jamestown, New York

– Kmart Puerto Rico Hwy 3 Plaza Guayama Guayama, Puerto Rico

– Sears* 2500 Riverchase Galleria Birmingham, Alabama

– Sears* Somersville Road Antioch, California

– Sears* 8501 W Bowles Avenue Littleton, Colorado

– Sears* 6200 20Th Street Vero Beach, Florida

– Sears* 901 Us 27 N Sebring, Florida

– Sears* 3700 Atlanta Hwy Ste 270 Athens, Georgia

– Sears* 5 Stratford Square Bloomingdale, Illinois

– Sears* 2300 Southlake Mall Merrillville, Indiana

– Sears* 6501 Grape Rd Us 23 Mishawaka, Indiana

– Sears* 6901 Security Sq Blvd Baltimore, Maryland

– Sears* 6780 S Westnedge Avenue Portage, Michigan

– Sears* 4900 Fashion Square Mall Saginaw, Michigan

– Sears* 18777 E 39Th St S Independence, Missouri

– Sears* 3 Mid Rivers Mall Drive St Peters, Missouri

– Sears 330 Siemers Drive Cape Girardeau, Missouri

– Sears* 600 Richland Mall Mansfield, Ohio

– Sears* 1101 Melbourne Rd Hurst, Texas

– Sears* 10000 Emmett F Lowry Expy Texas City, Texas

– Sears* 4812 Valley View Blvd Ne Roanoke, Virginia

– Sears* 4700 N Division Street Spokane, Washington

– Sears* 100 Huntington Mall Road Barboursville, West Virginia

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