Florida Has 3 of the Last Remaining Sears Locations
It’s no doubt that the big retailers and department stores have been struggling for the past few years. Nearly any mall you go into, you’ll find a lot of vacant stores. One of the biggest store closings of the past decade has been Sears. You used to be able to find a Sears at the end of almost any mall. You can’t find a Sears store in Tampa Bay in 2023, but old Sears locations are turning into a variety of different adventure and arcade spots. In 2010, Sears had nearly 3500 stores in operation, but now only a handful are still open. Where is Sears still open? Florida has 25% of the only Sears stores that still exist with 3 locations throughout the state.
Key findings:
In Florida, you can still find Sears locations in Miami, Palm Beach Gardens, and Orlando. Back in 2018, Sears had announced they only had 700 stores remaining and that they were filing for bankruptcy. Since then, they’ve fallen even further, but in one state there’s still hope. Since there are only 3 Sears locations left in the Sunshine State, that means there is one store for every 7,159,333.
Earlier this year, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Louisiana all closed their last stores. That is the report from ScrapeHero reported that there were only 12 remaining Sears locations.
Sears was once one of the leading department stores in the world, but has had a constant decline for decades. I remember walking up to almost any mall and seeing a Sears attached to it. Times change and the rise of online shopping has definitely helped speed up the slow demise of the once great department store.
In California, one new Sears opened in 2023. According to Eric Maenner, the general manager of Burbank Town Center, there would be a new, 3-story Sears opening up. The new Sears location officially opened its doors with a soft-opening to unveil its new center. Signs urged passersbys to “Rediscover Sears” because there used to be another Sears location in the area.