An epic fail: the last Sears store to close in New Jersey

🔺 Sears is closing its last store in NJ

🔺 Once the largest retailer in the world, there are only 12 stores remaining in the U.S.

🔺 Sears stores once anchored nearly every mall in the state

It is the final end of an era in New Jersey as the last remaining Sears store makes preparations to close in the Spring.

Signs have been posted at the Sears store at Newport Centre in Jersey City promoting a "store closing sale." The Jersey Journal reports the store will close its doors for good in the Spring.

In 1886, Sears began as a mail-order watch and jewelry service and then transitioned to a massive mail-order company.

Sears sold everything from tools, to clothing, to appliances and even do-it-yourself whole house kits.

Long before there were big box stores and companies like Amazon, Sears was the original mail-order and home delivery behemoth.

Sears stores were a fixture for generations in New Jersey and anchored nearly every mall in the Garden State as well as having a number of stand alone stores.

As a kid growing up in the 1970's, my father had a saying: "If Sears doesn't have it, we don't need it."

We would plan trips to the mall with the entire family, and Sears was always the first place we visited.

As my dad would browse the power tools and lawn equipment, my siblings and I would wonder at the new electronics while my mother looked at housewares and appliances.

Before school started, Sears is where we got new clothes. When I needed reading glasses, Sears is where my father took me. Sporting equipment? Let's go to Sears. Holiday family photoshoot? Sears did that, too.

It is a stunning fail for what was once the largest retailer in the world

In 2010, Sears was still doing about $43 billion in sales. As consumer behaviors changed and online shopping took off, sales at Sears plunged to less than $17 billion just seven years later.

Sears declared bankruptcy in 2018 and despite multiple attempts to save the brand, many experts say it will soon be gone forever.

The Sears store at Newport Centre opened in 1987.

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