Whatever Happened to Sears? And How Many Stores Are Still Open?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 18: A person walks out of a Sears store stands on October 18, 2021 in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City. Sears, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018, will close its last New York City store on November 24th after years of declining sales. Sears is one of America's oldest department stores but has struggled to compete with e-commerce. — Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Not so long ago, the average family bought everything from new school clothes to washing machines to replacement car parts at their local Sears store. A staple of American life since the beginning of the 20th century, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States until the late ’80s. But today, only seven Sears stores remain in the mainland United States, with an additional location in Puerto Rico. What happened to the once-mighty retailers, whose famous catalog and stores formed the backbone of American shopping for decades?

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Founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck, Sears Roebuck and Co. began as a mail-order operation, with catalogues that ran hundreds of pages, and offered shoppers everything from children’s toys to bicycles to food to automobiles. In 1906, they became the first major retailer to take their company public in a stock offering; they opened their first brick-and-mortar store in Chicago in 1925. In 1933, they released the first of their iconic Sears Wishbooks, which became a Christmas tradition for American children.

In the decades that followed, Sears expanded across North America, as well as South and Central America. It was a boom era for the company, which originally created well-known brands like Craftsman and Allstate Insurance to exist within their stores.

The company had its golden age in the ’70s; in 1974, corporate headquarters the Sears Tower became the tallest building in the country, and the company averaged the equivalent of over $77 billion a year in profits in 2025 dollars.

In the ’80s, the company began expanding into non-retail pursuits, purchasing smaller businesses like real estate company Coldwell Banker. Throughout the decade, they were the largest retailer in America, expanding their offerings and retaining celebrity spokespeople like Cheryl Tiegs; in 1990, the company’s annual profit was equivalent to $278 billion in 2025 dollars.

But in a 2019 Wall Street Journal interview, according to former CEO Alan Lacy said that in the ’80s, “The management team was distracted away from the retail business … the Sears department store was not a very robust economic model.” In 1990, Wal-Mart surpassed Sears as the largest retailer in America, and the company began to face increased pressure from big box and strip mall stores. In 1992, Sears posted a $3.9 billion loss.

In 1993, the Sears mail order business was discontinued after new management decided that the catalog was too expensive to print, and that they’d be better off focusing on their then-900+ retail locations. They also developed a new ad campaign, touting the fact that you could buy trendy women’s apparel as well as a socket wrench or a lawn mower in the store — the “Softer Side of Sears” ad campaign.

In 2005, Sears and K-Mart merged, creating a new company called the Sears Holding Corporation, with Sears taking over some old K-Mart locations. But whatever honeymoon there was was short-lived; by 2010, the stores began to lose money. From 2010 to 2017, the company shuttered thousands of Sears locations, dropping from 3500 stores to just 695. In 2018, Sears declared bankruptcy. Sears stores began to shutter by the dozen; by 2021, there were only 35 locations left.

By December 2024, only eight Sears stores remain: three in California, two in Florida, one in Massachusetts, one in Texas, and one in San Juan, Puerto Rico.