Sears, once one of the most successful department stores in America, is down to just eight U.S. locations — soon to be seven — when its Whittier store closes later this month.
The three-story store at Whittwood Town Center opened in the 1990s and now boasts giant “store closing” signs.
Shopper Ron Torsy, 65, summed up the retailer’s demise simply. “Blame Amazon.”
Torsy was browsing appliances with his wife, on the hunt for a new washing machine. They spied a $525 GE model marked down $225 from its original price. “It’s a deal,” boasted Torsy, who grew up in El Monte with memories of shopping for clothes, tools and appliances at a Sears in the San Gabriel Valley city.
The Whittier store stuffed all of its merchandise onto the first floor, offering discounts on clothing, mattresses and its highly touted Craftsman tools. The former Sears Holdings Corp. sold the tool business in 2017 to Stanley Black & Decker for $900 million as the chain tried to raise cash and dodge bankruptcy.
The storied retailer that anchored countless shopping malls decades ago is soon to become another piece of retail history, ceding to redevelopment and new shopping habits.
Kimco Realty Corp., owner of the 66-acre Whittwood shopping center since 2017, wants to build 1,200 residential units and a transit hub on the property, a plan that echoes across many malls in Southern California.
Ben Pongelli, community development director in Whittier, said the housing plan has simmered since 2022, and that Sears’ departure from the city’s largest commercial retail shopping center could push the project forward.
A broker with Kimco Realty said Sears’ lease expires in the fall. “We have not heard from them as to their exact intentions,” the broker said. “For now we’re in wait and see mode.”
After the Whittier store closes at the end of July, Sears will have just two traditional retail stores in California: Burbank and Concord.
At the Sears in Burbank, the last of the 139-year-old chain’s department stores in Southern California, foot traffic was sparse on Tuesday. Just one customer was spotted inside the store, while half-a-dozen sales associates and a store manager stood mostly idle at near cash registers. The escalators didn’t work going from the first floor to the second, and the third floor was closed.
Out with the old
Sears’ slow death, which started in the 1990s with the rise of discount retailers like Walmart and online shopping platforms like Amazon, is part of an evolution at U.S. shopping centers as old brands are replaced with new concepts and even housing.
“The retail apocalypse has been bandied about for decades, but now more than ever it is an appropriate term,” said James Cook, senior director in charge of Americas Retail Research for JLL.
Coresight Research expects store closures this year to double to about 15,000 after a spike in 2024.
Major retailers closed 7,325 stores in 2024, resulting in an estimated 119.3 million square feet of shuttered retail space, according to Coresight. This was the greatest number of closures since the pandemic in 2020, when Coresight tracked 10,000 closures.
Meanwhile, retailers offset some of the closures by opening 5,970 stores in 2024, filling an estimated 96.5 million square feet of retail space.
As of June 27, Coresight said U.S. retailers have announced 5,822 store closures and 3,960 store openings in 2025.
While retailers face their apocalypse, the landlords are sitting on hot property, said Cook.
The vacancy rate for retail real estate remains low at 4.1% after peaking at 7.1% in the first quarter of 2010 — the tail end of the Great Recession.
Newcomers to Southern California include Canada’s largest Asian supermarket chain T&T Supermarket. The company plans to open a store at the Crossroads Marketplace in Chino Hills, taking the place of a shuttered Best Buy and a Bed Bath and Beyond. The company is also opening a new store at the Great Park in Irvine.
Panda Mart, a popular discount retailer with 100 stores outside the United States, is coming to Orange County, leasing its first domestic store at the former Sears in Orange. In Fullerton, a fast-fashion retailer called Dressin opened in a former 99 Cents Only store.
Cook said that fast food restaurants continue to expand as well as discount groceries — like Grocery Outlet — and larger supermarket chains, like Kroger, and Albertsons. Discount retailers like Ross Stores, T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, also are expanding.
Two years ago, the Emeryville-based Grocery Outlet opened in the former Wholesome Choice store in Laguna Niguel. Last month, Kroger announced plans to close 60 stores over the next 18 months while opening at least 30 stores this year and accelerate its store openings in “high-growth geographies” in 2026.
Last July, Buena Park-based 99 Ranch Market opened a store in the former Vons at 550 E. 1st St. The store was briefly a Haggen supermarket before the company went bankrupt.
More retail closures
The number of chains that are either fading or are all but gone from their brick-and-mortar locations include Big Lots, Kohls, Macy’s, Party City and Joann Fabrics, which is closing all 800 U.S. stores.
Earlier this year, fashion retailer Forever 21 laid off over 350 and closed its Fashion District headquarters. It later closed all of its U.S. retail stores. In April 2024, discount retailer 99 Cents Only Stores announced plans to liquidate and close all of its 371 stores. One of those closed 99 Cents Only stores is located across the street from Sears in Whittier.
On June 30, a Nordstrom spokesman said that the luxury department store chain was closing its Santa Monica Place store on Aug. 26 as it restructures its network to better target customers who have moved to its “digital channels.”
John Harmon, senior retail technology analyst with Coresight Research, said that retail closures are two-fold, partly about rising prices and the growing preference shop online in the hunt for the cheapest deals. Not only do they want the best prices, Harmon said, they also have no patience for stores that are constantly disorganized, out of stock and deliver poor customer service.
“Sears is a mass merchandiser, and I think you need a certain critical mass to be successful,” Harmon said. “With Sears down to eight stores, it’s not going to have the economies of scale that other mass merchandisers have, like Target and Walmart. We never hear about Sears much anymore. It’s just losing momentum.”
Discount retailers were especially hurt by Chinese e-commerce retailers Shein and Temu, he said. These rapidly growing platforms gained popularity for their low prices and extensive product ranges, particularly fast fashion and home goods.
Temu and Shein have somewhat reversed their once-speedy growth since Trump imposed higher tariffs on Chinese imports and closed a tax loophole that allowed the retailers to undercut competitors, according to Harmon.
“They were possibly pushing weaker retailers over the edge into bankruptcy,” he said.
Bad decisions also play a role in certain retailers’ demise.
Neil Saunders, managing director of retail for GlobalData, a data analytics and consulting company, said tariffs cannot be blamed for every failure and problem in the retail sector.
“Tariffs are disruptive for retailers. They have pushed up the cost of doing business, especially in terms of imports. They have also absorbed a lot of time and resource as retailers have examined the impacts and undertaken planning to mitigate the effects,” Saunders. “The final impact is on consumers, many of whom have been a bit spooked and have become more cautious in their spending.
“A lot of retailers that have failed in recent months have done so for reasons other than tariffs,” said Saunders, citing poor management, failure to embrace online shopping and carrying too much debt.
19th century roots
Meanwhile, the epitaph for Sears’ brick and mortar stores is nearly written.
The 19th century Sears, Roebuck and Co. began as a mail-order business for watches and eventually introduced catalogs by mail. It eventually opened brick and mortar retail stores in 1925, and decades later became known for iconic brands like Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances.
At its peak, Sears dominated the retail landscape with around 3,500 stores.
Eddie Lampert, founder of hedge-fund ESL Investments and the retailer’s largest shareholder and creditor with privately held TransformCo, could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, some residents aren’t too sad to see Sears disappear.
“They didn’t keep up with the times,” said Antia Ortiz, a 54-year-old Whittier resident who lives in a condominium near the mall with her husband Sergio, 56. “There are other plans for this center to be developed with more housing, restaurants and a movie theater. People shouldn’t be afraid of the growth and change. That’s how you keep the neighborhood thriving. I’m looking forward to more places to eat.”
