Sears is planning to close its Nanaimo North Town Centre store pending court approval, the company announced Friday.
In a press release, the retail company announced it has filed motion materials regarding a number of orders it will seek from Ontario Superior court on Wednesday (Oct. 4), which will include the approval of transactions in respect of 11 of its leased retail store locations.
Sears will seek an extension of a stay period to Nov. 7, during which time the retail stores will continue to operate as it continues to restructure.
Peter Block, spokesman for Sears Canada, said no dates for closure have been announced. It’s business as usual for the time being, he said.
“First of all, the court needs to approve everything on Wednesday,” said Block. “There are a number of parties in this and so there could be some objections and there could be some arguments brought to court to challenge that,” said Block. “But on the assumption that the court says ‘Yes,’ what will happen is probably similar to what happened in the first round of store closing.
“Shortly thereafter, the stores go into a liquidation mode and roughly speaking three months, and it varies from store to store, and that’s why I say no specific dates have been set yet, but it would probably be closer to the end of the year then it would be anytime before that.”
More than 100 people work at Nanaimo’s Sears store and Block said there will be no compensation or severance.
“Again, that’s part of the unfortunate situation with the financial position that Sears is in, is that they don’t have funds to pay that,” said Block.
The company also announced Friday the planned closure of nine other full-line stores and one Sears Home store. Two stores in Kelowna and one in Burnaby are also closing.
In June, Sears Canada announced it would close more than half of its store locations in the midst of court protection and restructuring.
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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