Sears stores fall apart due to neglect as company struggles to stay afloat

By

Rebecca Taras

Published
Jul 3, 2017

In the midst of copious store closures and bankruptcy fears, it was recently reported that numerous Sears and Kmart stores are being seriously neglected, according to interviews with employees at Louisiana and California stores carried out by Business Insider.

The handful of staff members described the deteriorating stores as having issues such as rat infestations, leaky ceilings, collapsing shelves and broken toilets that were out of commission for three weeks. It was reported that a spokesman for Sears owned up to the faulty ceilings, but not the alleged rat situation.

This news is not particularly shocking considering Sears Holdings (owner of both Sears and Kmart) lost over $10 billion since 2010 and has vocalized bankruptcy fears as numerous locations continue to close—Sears Canada already entered bankruptcy protection last month. With the recent announcement that an additional 20 store locations would be shuttered, the total number of closures in 2017 thus far is a staggering 260.