MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A partial list shows four Minnesota Kmart stores are set to close as part of the store closings announced this week by the parent company of Sears and Kmart.
The four Kmarts are in Willmar, Duluth, New Hope and White Bear Lake. No Minnesota Sears stores are on the list.
The list released Thursday represents 79 of the 100 to 120 store closings announced Tuesday by Sears Holdings Corp.
Florida is hardest hit with 11 closings. Ohio and Georgia have six each, and Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee four each.
No Sears or Kmart stores in North Dakota or South Dakota is on a list of stores that the company is planning to shut down.
The closings account for about 3 percent of the company's 3,560 U.S. Stores. Sears merged with the Troy-based Kmart in 2005.
The company says employment varies by stores and format, and it could not provide the total number of affected employees.
Sears Holdings said it could no longer prop up "marginally performing" locations and would refocus its efforts on stores that make money.
Sears and Kmart merged in 2005. The projected closings represent only about 3 percent of Sears Holdings' U.S. stores.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
