Sears Canada closing 59 stores, including Cambridge location

Will Sears survive? Not in Cambridge, it won’t From CTV Kitchener’s Alexandra Pinto: The Sears Canada outlet store in Cambridge will close as part of a major corporate restructuring.

The Sears Canada outlet store at the Cambridge Centre mall is one of 59 Sears locations slated for closure, company officials announced Thursday.

The announcement came as the company revealed that it has obtained temporary court protection from its creditors.

All other local Sears Canada stores are expected to remain open. Other communities expected to lose stores include Ancaster, London, Chatham-Kent and Orangeville.

Closures will affect full-scale Sears stores as well as outlet locations and Sears Home shops. In total, approximately 2,900 job losses are expected.

According to the company, a timeline for closing the stores has not been finalized.

The court protection allows Sears Canada to obtain up to $450 million in financing as it restructures its business.

In a statement, the company said it needs a “long-term effort” to reinvent its brand and turn around its business.

Earlier this month, company officials warned that they did not foresee enough cash coming in to meet all of the company’s obligations over the next year.

Trading in Sears Canada stock was halted prior to Thursday’s announcement. Over the past year, shares in the company have lost more than 80 per cent of their value.

Sears Canada was founded as a mail-order business in 1952 and opened its first store one year later, in Stratford.

With files from The Canadian Press