HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Transform SR Brands L.L.C., the enterprise overseeing Sears Holdings' affairs, has closed the last remaining 15 Sears Auto Center stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to a statement on searsauto.com.
The company had been advertising 50% off all merchandise at the remaining stores — three each in California and Florida, two each in New York and Texas and single stores in Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Puerto Rico — throughout December 2021 and early January.
The searsauto.com notice shuts the book on an enterprise that at one time boasted over 850 locations throughout the U.S., sales north of $1 billion and a portfolio of private-brand tire lines, such as DieHard, Road Handler and Weather Handler.
Sears considered divesting the auto service business in 2013 as part of a strategy to "improve our financial flexibility and accelerate our transformation into a leading 'integrated retailer,'" but eventually decided against the idea.
The demise of the Sears Auto Center business began in late 2016 as the company dealt with declining earnings amid a shifting consumer buying habits. That effort led eventually to Sears Holdings' filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2017.
In 2017, the company opened a handful of DieHard Auto Centers driven by Sears in an attempt to revamp the automotive service business into more a standalone business venture. That initiative never expanded beyond just a handful of stores, however.
In 2010, Sears announced plans to franchise the Sears Auto Center business concept, targeting owners of General Motors or Chrysler-brand car dealerships who had lost their franchises amid GM and Chrysler's bankruptcy restructuring efforts, but that effort gained only a handful of converts and later faded away.
Sears, Roebuck & Co., the original company, began offering auto parts in 1905 and auto service in 1931.
The last 15 Sears Auto Centers to close were in: Concord, Orange and Stockton, Calif.; Thornton, Colo.; Coral Gables, Forth Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla.; Braintree, Mass.; Silver Spring, Md.; Jersey City, N.J.; College Point and Newburgh, N.Y.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Mesquite and San Antonio, Texas.
The closure notice provides customers an online contact for settling any warranty claims.
It is not known what will happen to the stores' real estate or physical assets.
