Sears Canada has confirmed that Sarnia's store is slated for closure, pending the company gets court approval to liquidate all of its remaining assets.
If the company gets the go-ahead, all of its remaining 130 stores will shut down, laying off 12,000 workers.
“Pending approval of the Court, it is expected that liquidation sales at retail locations would commence no earlier than October 19 and continue for 10 to 14 weeks,” the company says in a statement.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley says it will be a major loss to the community. "They helped grow this community starting at Northgate plaza back in the 1950's and, at Lambton Mall, they've continued to serve the community," says Bradley. "It's really sad about how the employees have been treated by Sears management over the last couple of years. Everything related to their pension funds, to the fact that it was the decisions the top management made that put the organization in the position that it's in today."
"There's no question that this will have an impact on Lambton Mall," says Bradley. "Tepperman's is re-locating to London Rd. and now with this announcement there will be a lot of retail space there to be filled up. If they need help to attract businesses into this retail climate, then we'll certainly be there for them."
Tuesday’s announcement appears to be the final chapter in the troubled recent history of Sears Canada. The company was granted creditor protection earlier this year and announced it would be closing 20 full-line locations, 15 Sears Home stores, ten Sears Outlets and 14 Sears Hometown locations.
The Sears Home store in London and the Sears store in Chatham were among those slated for closure. Last month, Sears Canada announced it would close an additional 10 stores.
Company officials had hoped to find a buyer that would take over the remaining stores, but the search was unsuccessful.
Sarnia's store had previously been spared closure earlier this year.
Sarnia's Sears store has 92 part-time and 16 full-time employees on staff.
-With files from Scott Kitching