A liquidation sale is on at the Flatbush retailer, part of what was once a national retail juggernaut. Landmarking will protect the building but what comes next is unknown.
By: Gabriel Sandoval
In Flatbush, a beloved Sears department store has remained in business since 1932, its Art Deco building a relic of a bygone era that’s now a protected city landmark.
But the end of line is near for the chain department store, known for its architecture and 100-foot tower at the corner of Beverley Road and Bedford Avenue.
Among the signs: flashy sale posters plastered on the front door. “EVERYTHING MUST GO!” reads one at the entrance. Another reads: “FURNITURE, FIXTURES AND EQUIPMENT FOR SALE.”
Sears is advertising jobs for “Store Closing-Brooklyn,” and a company specializing in retail store liquidations has the Beverley Road store on its Sears “store closing list.” Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018.
On Saturday, Transformco, a firm that acquired Sears assets, told THE CITY the store will be closing on Nov. 24 — opening a parcel the size of a city block for development.
“This location has potential for redevelopment within a variety of asset classes,” Scott Carr, president of real estate for Transformco, said in a statement. “We intend to reinvigorate and maximize the value of the real estate to meet the needs of the Brooklyn market.”
The store — the last remaining Sears outpost in New York City — has been a shopping staple for generations of families in the Brooklyn neighborhood.
“When we lose good things, it becomes heart-rending,” said Lorna Phillips, 60, a clothing designer originally from Jamaica who’s lived in Flatbush for 38 years.
She said the closure will be a major loss for the community, and she’ll miss finding good deals. Over the years, she’s gotten low prices on everything from perfume, blankets and a vacuum cleaner, to a DVD player when the technology first came out in the 1990s.
A Kmart housed in the basement of the three-story building is also set to close. Kmart — a brand that merged with Sears — closed its last outpost in Manhattan in July, now slated to be replaced by a Wegman’s grocery store.
Since Sears’ reign as a retail juggernaut peaked in the 1980s, declining sales have led to the closure of hundreds of Sears locations across the country. Sears and Kmart’s parent company, Transformco, did not respond to THE CITY’s request for comment.
Sears is shuttering its last store in its home state of Illinois, CNBC reported Thursday.
One Sears cashier told THE CITY that workers expect the Brooklyn store to close in December.
The Flatbush Sears closed temporarily at the start of the pandemic, and in April 2020 its sprawling parking lot became one of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s drive-through coronavirus testing sites aimed at communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
