Sears, struggling, announces more stores will close

NEW YORK — Sears, the beleaguered department store chain, says it's closing even more stores as it tries to turn around its business.

Sears Holdings Corp. CEO Eddie Lampert said in a blog post Friday that the company would close another eight Sears and 35 Kmart stores that are unprofitable by early October. 

"Changes in consumer behavior are driving our vision and actions," Lampert wrote. "This is part of a strategy both to address losses from unprofitable stores and to reduce the square footage of other stores because many of them are simply too big for our current needs."

Hundreds of store closings have already been announced this year, with the latest round coming less than a month ago.

Sears had said in March that there was "substantial doubt" it could continue after years of bleeding money, though it has insisted that its actions to turn around its business should help reduce that risk. With more people shopping online, mall foot traffic has dropped.

Lampert noted Friday that Sears has opened smaller stores to attract customers and is on track to cut $1.25 billion in yearly costs.

The company shared a list of stores that it plans to close.