Moses Lake Sears Hometown location closing

MOSES LAKE — The Sears Hometown outlet in downtown Moses Lake is closing its doors, and everything in stock is discounted as part of a “blowout sale,” with large appliances all 25% off, according to postings on the outlet’s Facebook page.

Store manager Elizabeth Davis said she could not comment publicly on the closure, but noted the closure will not affect repairs and maintenance on the brands sold.

“We don’t handle that,” she said.

Sears Hometown is currently owned by Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Transformco, which bought Sears in 2018 for $5.2 billion after Sears filed for bankruptcy. In mid-2019, Transformco purchased former independent companies Sears Hometown and Sears Outlet, though the company had to divest itself of all the Sears Outlet stores as part of the deal.

Transformco, which also owns nearly defunct discount retailer Kmart, has continued to close Sears stores and announced in December 2021 that the company would sell its corporate headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, according to a report from ABC News.

Representatives with Transformco did not respond to email requests for comment, and calls to the company’s main phone number listed on its website for media inquiries were forwarded to what appears to be an unattended voicemail box that does not take incoming messages.

The last press release posted on the Transformco website was on Jan. 21, when the company announced it was closing a Sears store in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The last blog entry on the Transformco website was on July 21, 2021, and the company made its most recent official Twitter post at @TransformcoHQ on June 30, 2021.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.