The last traditional Sears in Orange County is closing April 18 at the Village at Orange mall.
Sears was built as a standalone store in 1967 at the corner of Meats Avenue and North Tustin Street. It became the original anchor at the Orange mall, which debuted in 1971. While Sears is attached to the mall, it is a separate entity and doesn’t belong to the Village at Orange owner, TRC Retail.
The local closure was listed among 33 others, including six in California, by SB360 Capital Partners, which is handling the closing sales.
Liquidation sales began Thursday, Feb. 4.
Two Sears outlets, one in Santa Ana and one in Brea operating as American Freight, will be all that remain in the county of the once-iconic retail store popular for its appliances, tools and back-to-school sales.
The retailer, like many brick-and-mortar chains, has struggled for years. At the Orange location, the store was chopped in two, with part of the square footage leased to 24 Hour Fitness. The pandemic likely hurt dwindling sales at the aging store, which has been part of two significant renovations at the mall.
Transformco bought the assets of Sears Holdings Inc. in 2019, and has been closing stores ever since. It closed 11 area stores in late 2019, and this week a closure list of 33 stores includes a Sears in the Boyle Heights in Los Angeles, a Kmart in Long Beach and another Kmart in Big Bear.
