Looking like the end of the road for Sears:

Sears Holdings plans to file for bankruptcy protection after midnight in the East Coast, culminating the collapse of what was once America’s largest retailer, people familiar with the situation tell CNBC.

As part of the bankruptcy plan, Sears will immediately close roughly 150 of its stores, people familiar with the matter have said. It has approximately 700 stores, one of the people said.

It is unclear how the closures would impact Sears’ workers, which totaled roughly 90,000 in February 2018.

cnbc.com

The day has finally come: Sears is going bankrupt.

The once-dominant retail icon — whose Sears and Kmart chains have shrunk drastically and grown dilapidated after more than a dozen years under the control of billionaire Eddie Lampert — was expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by late Sunday or early Monday.

After nearly a week of intense negotiations, Sears’ lenders were close to agreeing to supply a $500 million loan to keep shelves stocked and employees paid through the holidays, according to sources close to the situation.

It’s unclear, however, whether the iconic retail chain will survive beyond that, after getting whittled down to about 700 locations. That’s versus more than 3,500 before Lampert, a hedge-fund manager, merged the retailers in 2005 to form Sears Holdings and made himself chairman and chief executive.

“Sears has been under a hail of fire for some time with a lot of questions about its CEO and his real intentions,” said Eric Schiffer, chief executive of Patriarch, an LA-based private equity firm.

“I think it’s unlikely that it’ll survive beyond the filing. They haven’t figured out how to merchandise.”

Under the expected reorganization plan, about 150 stores are expected to close immediately while Lampert weighs a bid to keep 300 locations running beyond Christmas, sources said. The fate of 250 additional stores will hang in the balance while the rest are shuttered by early next year.

nypost.com