The Sears store located on Fourth Street in downtown Estevan is going to close in the coming weeks, now that Sears Canada has been given the green light to liquidate all of its remaining stores and assets.
Sears Canada announced on Oct. 10 that it and some subsidiaries had applied for liquidation approval. The motion was approved on Oct. 13, and further information of the process was provided on Oct. 16.
Liquidation across the country is started to start on Oct. 19 and last for 10 to 14 weeks.
The Estevan location was a Sears Hometown store, which is owned and operated by an independent dealer. In the case of the Estevan store, the owner is Shane Winter. He said he has two employees in the store.
The Sears location in Estevan offered electronics, home appliances, mattresses and other goods.
According to the Sears website, it was one of three in the province, and one of nearly 50 across the country.
Winter said he doesn鈥檛 know when the store will be closing, but he can鈥檛 see it taking the length of time that has been speculated by the company.
He was hoping a buyer would step forward to save the company and allow the local store to remain open, but that didn鈥檛 transpire.
Winter noted the store had a full stock of inventory as of last week.
The closure of the Estevan store, and the other Sears stores across the country, marks the final chapter for Sears in this country. Sears Canada鈥檚 roots in Canada date back to 1953, when it was known as Simpsons-Sears, through a partnership Simpsons Limited. At one time, it was the top retailer in Canada.
But earlier this year, 54 Sears stores across the country, including several stores in Saskatchewan, were shut down, and about 2,900 employees across the country were laid off.
As part of the liquidation that will begin this week, Sears will no longer be in a position to honour Sears Protection Agreement warranties to customers after Oct. 18. Most merchandise normally sold by Sears comes with a one-year manufacturer's warranty, which will be available to customers directly from the manufacturers.
Refunds on protection agreements will be allowed to customers that have purchased them within the past 30 days, per normal procedures.
Sears will continue to accept gift cards until the liquidation is complete.
About 12,000 people will lose their jobs across the country.
