Sears at Regency, 2 area Kmarts closing

NEW YORK – Sears Holdings Corp. announced Thursday that it will close 68 Kmart stores and 10 Sears stores as it struggles to restore profitability.

The Sears at Regency Square Mall on Arlington Expressway, the Kmart on San Jose Boulevard and the Kmart on Atlantic Boulevard in Neptune Beach are among the stores being closed. 

Sears and Kmart stores will start their liquidation sales on May 12 and April 29, respectively, Sears said. The Sears stores will close in late July.

The ailing company had said in February that it would accelerate the closing of unprofitable stores. The move is expected to generate a "meaningful level" of cash from the liquidation of store inventories and from the sale or sublease of some of the related real estate, it said.

The closings follow a comprehensive review of the company's store portfolio that took into account store performance and the timing of lease expirations.

Sears has long been struggling with a sales slump, unable to keep up with rivals like Walmart.