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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah residents may no longer be hearing the announcement "Attention Sears shoppers" with the stores in Provo and Murray being closed or sold.
In late December, Sears Holdings Corp. announced that it would [close as many as 120 Sears and Kmart stores](<Sears to close 100 to 120 Kmart, Sears stores>) to help generate a profit from inventory and lease sales.
Sears Holdings is selling 11 of its stores, including the two in Utah, to General Growth Properties for $270 million. General Growth owns more than 130 shopping malls across the country.
The Sears stores at the Fashion Place Mall in Murray and the Provo Towne Centre are part of a real estate deal, but it is not yet known which retailers will be filling the vacancies. General Growth said it anticipates that Sears will continue to occupy the stores into 2013, with final closing date to be announced later this year.
According to company officials, a few of the economic problems for Sears included high costs for cotton and fuel, a too-high amount of inventory, unseasonable weather that led to lower sales of winter gear, and low consumer demand for two of its biggest categories: appliances and consumer electronics.
With the sales of the 11 stores, Sears is hoping to raise as much as $770 million and will take additional steps to restructure its operations. Some of these expected plans include spinning off the company's Hometown and Outlet shops and creating some hardware stores into separately owned companies.
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Main image: Steven Senne/AP file photo
