Bay Area will be home to the last Sears in California
Facade with signage at the Sears department store in the Sunvalley Mall, a shopping mall in Concord, California, September 8, 2017. (Photo via Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).
CONCORD, Calif. - The Bay Area is slated to be home to the last standing Sears in California, a vestige representing one of the largest retailers in the world back in its day, and a company that was once an iconic and powerful symbol of American consumer culture.
What we know:
The Sears at Sunvalley Mall in Concord will be the only one in the West, after the store in Whittier in Los Angeles County recently closed and another Southern California store, one in Burbank, is scheduled to close later this summer.
A Sears employee in Burbank said Aug. 31 will be the last day for that location.
Concord location for lease
While there has been no word on what the future holds for the Concord store, the days may be numbered for that location as well.
The company that owns Sears, Transformco, has posted that the property is available for lease.
The lease brochure boasts the property is in a "Premiere East Bay Location," situated in an easily accessible spot, anchored by many well-known businesses, in a community with strong spending power and the real estate offering large-scale redevelopment opportunities.
"Auto center supports pad redevelopment or spin-off. Average household income exceeds $100,000 within 5-mile radius," the lease brochure advertised.
KTVU reached out to Transformco seeking details on future plans for its Concord location but has not yet heard back.
Timeline:
The historic retailer dates back to 1886, when Richard Sears began selling watches by mail order.
The company took advantage of the post-World War II economic boom. In the early 20th century, Sears modeled innovation in the American consumer landscape and grew to be one of the largest department store chains and retailers in the world, with more than 3,000 U.S. locations at its peak during the 1970s.
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The company faced years of financial struggles amid changes to consumer habits, especially with the emergence of big-box retailers like Walmart and later, the explosive rise of e-commerce.
In October 2018, Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, facing plunging sales and drowning in debt.
The following February, Transformco acquired the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation.
Local perspective:
In recent years, Sears has shuttered its other Bay Area locations, including stores in San Bruno and San Jose in 2020.
Last year, the department store chain closed its Stockton locations, leaving the Concord store the only one in the general region.
The remaining U.S. stores are located in Florida, Massachusetts, Texas and Puerto Rico.
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