Effingham Kmart to see its last holiday shopping season

EFFINGHAM (Heartland Newsfeed) — The Effingham Kmart on North Keller Drive is one of 45 Kmart outlets that will close in January as parent company Sears Holdings continues its wave of store closures, a Business Insider report said.

The Effingham Kmart is the only Illinois outlet affected by the recent announcement, which also heralded the closure of 18 Sears stores throughout the country. The stores will all remain open throughout December for the holiday shopping period and close in January.

“Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base and will continue to right size our store footprint in number and size,” Sears Holdings said, according to the report. “In the process, as previously announced, we will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members.”

Business Insider said Sears Holdings’ new extended Black Friday sales period will be observed at the stores targeted for closing, allowing shoppers to access deals throughout the month of November. Sears and Kmart stores are currently offering discounts of 10 to 50 percent off all products in an effort to let shoppers bypass the rush of Black Friday shopping, according to a previous Business Insider report.