By Gloria Lloyd
News Editor
glorialloyd@callnewspapers.com

The Sears store at South County Center will close in September, the company announced Thursday.

The Sears at 250 South County Center Way is one of the anchors at the south county mall. Liquidation sales can begin as soon as June 14. The other St. Louis store closing in the latest shakeup is at Chesterfield Mall. Those two stores are the only stores closing in Missouri. Also on the list was the Sears at White Oaks Mall in Springfield, Illinois.

The announcement came the same day Sears Holdings released its first-quarter financial results, which showed company shareholders losing $424 million, or $3.93 per share. In comparison, the company earned $245 million in profit in the first quarter of 2017. Much of that profit was attributable to selling the Craftsman brand of tools for $492 million.

Sears wants to “streamline the company’s operations and focus on our best stores,” the company said as it released the list of stores slated to close. The company promised it would make more “adjustments as needed and as warranted.”

The company said as it released the list that it identified about 100 “non-profitable” stores, which will begin store-closing sales soon. The company pared that list down to 72, then took some of those stores off the list for more evaluation.

The Kmart across from South County Center on Lemay Ferry Road already closed in January.

The company told associates Thursday at 48 Sears stores and 15 Kmart stores nationwide that their stores would close. Eligible workers can receive severance and can apply for jobs at existing Sears and Kmart stores.

Many of the stores closing will see their Auto Centers close in June or July, but the Sears Auto Center at South County Center was not on that list of early closures.