Sears store in Lansing to close by early 2020

Kristan Obeng Christian Martinez
Lansing State Journal
Abandoned shopping carts and the iconic Sears water tower in the Frandor shopping center Friday, Nov. 8, 2019. The Frandor location had been open since 1928 but closed in early 2020.

LANSING - A Sears location on Michigan Avenue in Lansing is set to close by February, Transformco, the owner of both the Sears and Kmart brands, announced this week.

The Lansing store, which originally opened in 1928 and had been in its Frandor location in 1954, is one of nearly 100 Transformco-owned locations closing nationally by early next year. The closures will include 51 Sears stores and 45 Kmart stores.

"We have been working hard to position Transformco for success by focusing on our competitive strengths and pruning operations that have struggled due to increased competition and other factors," the company said in a release.

Transformco officials declined to say how many employees would be affected by the closures.

"We're not going to be commenting further," said Transformco Public Relations Specialist Paige Hidlay.

The Sears in Frandor has been open since 1928 per this signage on their door, seen Friday, Nov. 8, 2019.

The Gillespie Group, a Lansing-based real estate developer, has owned the building in which Sears is located for 10 years.

"We learned about (the store closure) in the news. We had no information. Someone sent a text," said Pat Gillespie, founder and president of the Gillespie Group. "We were not shocked, but surprised to hear it."

Transformco has a 10-year lease on the building, according to Gillespie.

"They could sublease. They could let it sit vacant. They could bring in other retailers. We don’t know what they're going to do until we get a hold of them and see what their plans are," Gillespie added. 

Gillespie said he hopes to see the site maximized in the future. 

But it may not be another retailer, according to Rex Lamore, director of Michigan State University's Center for Community and Economic Development. 

"It's a prime location. I think we will see different uses there, such as mixed-used housing. That seems to be the type of investment occurring in these locations," Lamore said. 

According to Transformco, the closing stores will launch "going out of business sales" on Dec. 2.

The closure will not only affect Sears.

In the store's parking lot is a small kiosk for the Keyless Shop. When Sears closes its doors, Keyless Shop may have to move.

"We're looking for alternate places," said Candice Van Hoogen, a Keyless Shop employee.

"I'm a little bit worried about finding a new place," she said, noting that leasing commercial space can be expensive.

However, according to Van Hoogen, the closure was not unexpected.

"You could see that the customers have been dwindling for a while, because most of the time the parking lot is pretty bare," she said. "But with the news today the parking lot is a lot busier than it has been in months and years really."

The wave of closures is not the first experienced by the Sears and Kmart brands in recent years.

The brands have closed more than 3,500 stores and cut about 250,000 jobs since the early 2000s.

After this new round of closings and previously announced closings, Transformco will operate 182 stores.

The impending closure of Lansing's Sears location continues a trend of big box retail storefronts shuttering in the region.

Greater Lansing lost its Kmart and its Lansing Mall Macy's in 2017 and Younkers stores at both Lansing and Meridian malls in 2018.

Contact Kristan Obeng at KObeng@lsj.com or 517-267-1344. Follow her on Twitter @KrissyObeng.

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