Sears Closing Doors at Prescott Gateway Mall

Sears will close its doors for good in February at the Prescott Gateway Mall. 
Officials from the management company, Transformco, in Chicago, said the Prescott store is one after the first of the year.
The Sears store in Prescott is the only one listed to be closed in Arizona when management company Transformco announced in November 51 Sears stores and 45 Kmart stores nationally were to be shut down.
When Sears closes, only two anchor stores — Dillard’s and J.C. Penney’s — will be at the Gateway Mall. Sears was an original tenant when the mall opened in March 2002. 
Since Thanksgiving, Sears has displayed banners and posters announcing “Store Closing Sales” scattered throughout the mall.
The store manager in Prescott declined to comment about the store’s closing.  
Until the closure, store hours are Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Prescott lost its Kmart store in 2008. The space became a C-A-L Store at 1048 Willow Creek Road. Prescott Valley’s Kmart closed in 2016; that building was converted to Pruitt’s Fine Furniture at 7550 Highway 69. 
More than a year ago, Transformco bought the Sears and Kmart conglomerate during a bankruptcy process. Company management reported in November it faced a “difficult retail environment and other challenges.” For years, both Sears and Kmart endured diminished foot traffic, digital and online competition, and lack of creative innovation in stores.
In the past 15 years, Sears and Kmart have closed more than 3,500 stores and eliminated more than 250,000 jobs. The company has about 180 stores left in the United States. 
Founded in 1893 In Chicago by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck, the company was at one time the biggest retailer in the United States.