Closure of Sears store in Burbank leaves East Bay site the last one standing in California

The Sears store in Burbank is closing, the last of the 139-year-old chain’s traditional Southern California retail stores.

“I can confirm they are closing,” said Eric Maenner, general manager of the Burbank Town Center for mall owner Onni Group.

Maenner said he was notified Wednesday, July 23, that the Sears store was closing in the near future. No timetable was provided by representatives of Sears owner TransformCo on when that might happen.

“This is all very preliminary,” said Maenner, citing store closing signs that went up Thursday. The Sears brand has already been removed from the Burbank Town Center’s website.

The Canadian development firm Onni Group, which acquired the Burbank Town Center in 2021, does not have any immediate plans on what might replace the Sears in the 1.2 million-square-foot shopping center, according to Maenner.

The mall at 201 E. Magnolia Blvd. features more than 170 retail stores, restaurants, entertainment venues and lifestyle services. Other retailers include Macy’s, H&M, Wetzel Pretzel and World Market.

Early this month, Sears announced it would close its Whittier store by the end of this month. The three-story store at Whittwood Town Center opened in the 1990s and now boasts giant “store closing” signs.”

With the closing of the Whittier and Burbank stores, Sears, once one of the most successful department stores in America, will be down to just six U.S. locations. At its peak, Sears dominated the retail landscape with around 3,500 stores. 

Sears has sold or closed a number of specialty stores — like its discount outlet stores and auto centers in 2022, according to Modern Tire Dealer  — but continues to operate its Sears Home Services division, which provides appliance repair and home improvement services.

The former Sears Holdings Corp. sold the Craftsman tools business in 2017 to Stanley Black & Decker for $900 million as the chain tried to raise cash and dodge bankruptcy — which it ultimately did in 2018. The last Kmart remaining in the U.S. closed last year in Bridgehampton, New York, according to news reports.

At last tally, there are just a handful of Sears stores left, including the last for California in Concord, plus stores in Orlando, Florida; Miami, Florida; El Paso, Texas; Braintree, Mass.; and Puerto Rico.

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.

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.

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.

On a visit to the Sears in Burbank a month ago, foot traffic was sparse. Just one customer was spotted inside the store, while half-a-dozen sales associates and a store manager stood mostly idle near cash registers. The escalators didn’t work going from the first floor to the second, and the third floor was closed.