TOMS RIVER — A fixture at the Ocean County Mall will be no more by April.

This township's Sears was spared last year when the company closed nearly 400 Sears and Kmart stores. Business Insider is reporting that Sears at Ocean County Mall will be included in this upcoming closure of 103 more stores.

The shutdown of these stores was blamed on very poor sales. Sears Holding Company's profits have plummeted 45 percent since 2013. The company is $4 billion in debt and continues to lose another $1 billion every year.

After Sears closes, it will leave an enormous space on the Ocean County Mall property. What could possibly move in? Will it be several different retailers? All I know is that I'm going to have to find a new place for tires.

In June, Sears announced it was closing 72 stores — including three in New Jersey — expanding a list of closures that already reached into the hundreds. The closures at that time included a Sears in Vineland, and Kmart locations Mantua and Manahawkin.

In August, the company announced it was closing the Kmart stores on Route 38 in Moorestown and Route 46 in Parsippany in mid-November.

And in November, it announced the Sears at the Phillipsburg Mall would close this month.

 

 

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