Sears Store Closings In High Unemployment Areas

Add to the problems of unemployment that it will be harder for the jobless to shop at Sears and KMart. A list of 79 locations that will be shuttered by Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) was released yesterday. The total number will eventually reach 100 to 120. It is wonder that Sears Holdings does not know, or will not disclose, the list of all locations set to be eliminated.

The news may be good for the unemployed because experts have argued that the quality of Sears and KMart stores has fallen sharply. But, the two retailers do sell inexpensive goods and their absences hardly helps people who live on unemployment insurance.

While to is hard to blame Sears for its decision to leave high unemployment areas, it is a another signal that some portions of the US will lose more goods and services when they are regions with intransigent joblessness.

Seven stores will be closed in Florida, which had an unemployment rate of 10% in November. Five will be closed in Michigan where unemployment was 9.8%. Mississippi has an unemployment rate of 10.5%. Five stores will be closed in that state.

No Sears Holdings stores will be closed in low-unemployment level Connecticut. And none in New York or Texas, either. Sears and KMart can hold the line in places where a higher percentage of people have jobs.

Another by-product of the closings is that jobs will be lost in areas where they are harder to find.

The Sears Holdings list shows, once again, that the regions of the nation where the economy is still in a flat spin face more challenges than most others when services and job creation are counted.

Douglas A. McIntyre