Add It Again- Sears Closing 20 More Locations.

     Back at it again, Sears never seizes to amaze when it comes to seizing business. A few days ago, more locations where added to what seems like a never ending list of stores spiraling the chain to the slowest end in retail history. On top of Sears Holdings having trouble, our northern brother Canada is facing the same problem when it comes to Sears. Last week, Sears Canada has filed for bankruptcy and announced several store closures as a result. Here is the latest stores closing, according to Business Insider.

     Of this list, I have been to several of these stores. It is a shame the store in Chicago is closing, I most recently went there with family while Christmas shopping. It was snowing, and we were all together in my station wagon. The Overland Park, Kansas location has been featured on TTTM often because it anchors the dead Metcalf South mall. I was at the Roseville, Michigan store last November, as the Kmart (former SuperK) was still open, its closed now. This Sears anchors the Macomb mall in Macomb county. The Toledo store is a stand alone store next to an Elder-Beerman, also stand alone. Its just two miles from the Franklin Park Mall. The Greendale, Wisconsin location anchors the Southridge mall, its a very nice mall in suburban Milwaukee.

• 8201 S Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL
• 1601 N Harlem Ave, Chicago, IL
• 9701 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS
• 5715 Johnston Street, Lafayette, LA
• 4575 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA
• 126 Shawan Road, Cockeysville, MD
• 17318 Valley Mall Road, Hagerstown, MD
• 32123 Gratiot Avenue, Roseville, MI
• 14250 Buck Hill Road, Burnsville, MN
• 1640 Route 22, Watchung, NJ
• 1425 Central Avenue, Albany, NY
• 4000 Jericho Turnpike, East Northport, NY
• 601-635 Harry L. Drive, Johnson City, NY
• 7875 Johnnycake Ridge Road, Mentor, OH
• 6950 W 130th Street, Middleburg Heights, OH
• 3408 W Central Avenue, Toledo, OH
• 650 Bald Hill Road, Warwick, RI
• 300 Baybrook Mall, Friendswood, TX
• 9570 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX
• 5200 South 76th Street, Greendale, WI

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BREAKING: Amazon Buying Whole Foods For 13.7 Billion.

     Whole Foods stock blew up last Friday as online commerce giant Amazon purchased them in a deal valued at over $13.7 billion. Whole Foods is an organic grocer, trending as the modern way of how food should be grown, prepared, and eaten. Amazon is an online retailer, trending as the modern way to shop from the comforts of home, by phone on the go, and now a grocery store? Amazon has purchased Whole Foods in an effort to maximize the customer experience, you can buy virtually anything from the smile on the box.

     According to CNBC, CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey stated "this is an opportunity to maximize value for Whole Foods Market's shareholders, while at the same time extending our mission and bringing the highest quality, experience, convenience and innovation to our customers." Mackey will remain the CEO of Whole.

     Amazon has been pushing to expand into the online grocery business, but has run into obstacles to make it efficient and safe, as in keeping perishables fresh during transit. It is an emerging marking, although only a small percentage of people actually purchase groceries online, or have a delivery service like Peapod. After all, you can't purchase everything online, no matter how cheap or efficient it may be to consumers and suppliers, having to physically go and "grocery shop" yourself is still going to be the norm for quite sometime.

     Millennial's were the biggest group of consumers to purchase groceries online last year, and Millennial's are the biggest consumer group to Amazon. The biggest consumer group shopping at Whole Foods would be Millennial's, and twice as likely over the age of 25. This was a puzzle put together, the next generation of shopping and grocery shopping being reworked to suite the modern age.

     This is all up to personal opinion, but Amazon is known for competitive pricing, buying something online over at the store is why so many stores are closing up, Amazon proved its cheaper to shop online. Any grocery chain could have been purchased by Amazon, something like Kroger, or Delhaize Group would have been made more sense, because of competitive pricing, but Whole Food sis the exact opposite, there not known for being cheap. Amazon may change how we buy for forever, or at least how Whole Foods sells food.

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List of Marsh Locations Closing & Under New Ownership.

     Many Marsh and O'Malia's locations closed in individual rounds of closures processing to the end. This is the last verdict of Marsh locations that are either purchased from competing grocer's or will close permanently. There are currently 44 Marsh locations still operating throughout Indiana and Ohio.

According to Indystar, here is the list of Marsh stores that did not find a buyer, in other word, these stores are closing.

Here are the 18 Marsh stores that are closing:

• Indianapolis, 6965 W. 38th St.
• Indianapolis, 5151 E. 82nd St.
• Indianapolis, 2350 Broad Ripple Ave.
• Indianapolis, 5624 Georgetown Road
• Beech Grove, 1815 Albany St.
• Carmel-Marsh, 2140 E. 116th St.
• Carmel-O'Malia's, 4755 E. 126th St.
• Noblesville, 14450 Mundy Drive
• Anderson, 2810 Nichol Ave.
• Connersville, 1508 Virginia Ave.
• Muncie, 1800 Burlington Dr.
• Muncie, 1900 N. Walnut Ave.
• Kokomo, 208 Southway Blvd. E.
• Kokomo, 1401 N. Washington St.
• Lafayette, 2250 Teal Road
• Logansport, 315 14th St.
• West Lafayette, 2410 N. Salisbury
• Hamilton, Ohio, 1500 Plaza Dr.

According to Indystar, here are the 26 other locations that were purchased by other grocer's.

Successful bidder 1: Topvalco, Inc. (A Kroger subsidiary)

• Indianapolis, 1435 W. 86th St.
• Indianapolis, 227 W. Michigan St.
• Brownsburg, 843 E. Main St.
• Fishers, 12520 E. 116th St.
• Greenwood, 2904 S. Ind. 135
• Zionsville, 10679 N. Michigan
• Zionsville, 5 Boone Village
• Bloomington, 123 S. Kingston Drive
• Bloomington, 1825 Kinser Pike
• Muncie, 1500 W. McGalliard Road
• Muncie, 715 S. Tillotson Ave.

Successful bidder 2: Generative Growth II, LLC (Operator of Fresh Encounter)

• Indianapolis, 11625 Fox Road
• Indianapolis, 320 N. New Jersey St.
• New Palestine, 5802 W. U.S. 52
• Pendleton, 3015 W. U.S. 36
• Columbus, 3075 E. 25th St.
• Elwood, 1515 S. Ind. 37
• Greensburg, 736 W. Main St.
• Hartford City, 1711 N. Walnut
• Marion, 1013 Forest Ave.
• Richmond, 501 National Road West
• Tipton, 899 E. Jefferson
• Eaton, Ohio, 223 Aukerman
• Middletown, Ohio, 621 N. University Blvd.
• Troy, Ohio, 982 N. Market
• Van Wert, Ohio, 1107 S. Shannon

Many stores have closed so far, and many locations will be left empty, some communities will be left without a market. At least most of the chain is being taken over by other grocers, not leaving as many store empty as other chains have done.

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Ascena Retail Group Cutting Back.

     Ascena Retail Group has plans on cutting back there retail footprint over the next two years. Ascena is the parent company of several clothing retailers that are located primarily in shopping centers and enclosed malls. According to NBC Chicago, Ascena anticipates on closing 250-650 stores because of declining retail traffic, its undisclosed of how many of each brand will close.

     The bulk of the predicted closures will come over a dispute of lower rent among lease renewals. If a deal cannot be reached between mall owners and the brand for cheaper rent to leverage expense, the individual location will close, profitable or not, that is my assumption.

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Gymboree Files For Bankruptcy, Closing Hundreds Of Stores.

     The chain where a mother could take her child to play and could buy cloths from could be no more. Children's clothing retailer Gymboree has filed for bankruptcy and anticipates closing between 350-450 locations. The chain currently operates over 1,200 stores, including Gymboree Outlets, Janie and Jack, and Crazy8.

     Online shopping is a prominent cause to any chains financial downfall. There is not a lot of competition that sells only baby cloths and toys in the mall, but that does not stop people to go online instead. Gymboree promises the restructuring will process quickly and the chain will become viable in today's evolving market.

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Woodfield Mall: 5/17 Updates.

     Just some updates of what is going on at Woodfield Mall. It seems like some minor expansion is going on in the Victoria's Secret part of the mall as most of the second floor is cut up and first floor is blocked off.

The Bachrach store is closing, among several other locations I have seen, including Fox Valley in Aurora.

The Bebe store is also closing along with the rest of the chain, there are very few locations in Illinois however, one being at Woodfield, and another at Old Orchard in Skokie.

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Report: Sears Closing Another 72 Stores.

     Eddie is at it again, Sears announced today it is closing another 72 locations. These closures are in addition to the over 180 stores that are "quietly" closing, not company announced, only reported from employees and customers, better explained through Business Insider. These additional 72 locations include 16 Sears stores, majority of Kmart stores at 49, and 7 Sears Auto Centers. Most of these locations will close around September, or 12 weeks from the start of the liquidation. Sears has slashed its retail foot print by nearly 1,000 stores in the last five years.

Here is the list of stores provided by Business Insider.

Sears locations:

• Chico, CA, store 2048
• Dalton, GA, store 2615
• Biloxi, MS, store 2256
• Asheboro, NC, store 2645
• Minot, ND, store 2152
• Vineland, NJ, store 2374
• Columbus, OH, store 1150
• Elyria, OH, store 1310
• Columbus, OH, store 1370
• Franklin, OH, store 2940
• Midwest City, OK, store 1261
• Richmond, VA, store 1445
• Columbia, SC, store 1525
• Texarkana, TX, store 2567
• Sherman, TX, store 2627
• St. George, UT, store 2220

Kmart locations:

• Dothan, AL, store 3082
• Muscle Shoals, AL, store 7045
• Little Rock, AR, store 3120
• Bullhead City (Riviera), AZ, store 3375
• Blythe, CA, store 3881
• Sacramento, CA, store 4117
• Manteca, CA, store 4862
• Fort Oglethorpe, GA, store 3083
• Calhoun, GA, store 9625
• Iowa City, IA, store 4315
• Marshalltown, IA, store 7583
• Mishawaka, IN, store 4152
• Newburyport, MA, store 9147
• Elkton, MD, store 9524
• Traverse City, MI, store 3009
• West Branch, MI, store 3864
• Cheboygan, MI, store 9245
• Mantua, NJ, store 3060
• Manahawkin, NJ, store 3641
• Las Cruces, NM, store 3682
• Alamogordo, NM, store 9119
• Las Vegas, NV, store 3680
• Henderson, NV, store 3857
• Sparks, NV, store 4151
• Liverpool, NY, store 3352
• Malone, NY, store 3943
• Cortland, NY, store 7134
• Watertown, NY, store 7432
• Wooster, OH, store 4875
• Streetsboro, OH, store 9676
• Tulsa, OK, store 4473
• Roseburg, OR, store 7580
• Butler, PA, store 4771
• Belle Vernon, PA, store 7120
• Indiana, PA, store 7217
• Summerville, SC, store 3606
• Seneca, SC, store 9320
• Madison, TN, store 4093
• Johnson City, TN, store 7353
• El Paso, TX, store 3491
• El Paso, TX, store 7347
• Spanish Fork, UT, store 7425
• Virginia Beach, VA, store 3560
• Virginia Beach, VA, store 3801
• West Allis, WI, store 3618
• La Crosse, WI, store 4089
• Medford, WI, store 7656
• Lewisburg, WV, store 7582
• Sheridan, WY, store 9074

Sears Auto Centers:

• Elyria, OH, store 6060
• Midwest City, OK, store 6509
• Columbia, SC, store 6013
• Texarkana, TX, store 6739
• Sherman, TX, store 6929
• St. George, UT, store 2653
• Richmond, VA, store 7505

I am kind of surprised none of these locations are in Illinois. I have shopped at some of these locations listed above, and am disappointed they are closing.

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Ultra Foods Closing All Remaing Locations, Selling All Strack &Van Til Stores.

     Central Grocers, the Joliet, IL-based parent company in Highland, Ind-based Strack & Van Til plans on closing 9 more Ultra Foods store as it is going out of business, and plans to sell 22 other locations. According to the Chicago Tribune, Central Grocers is a grocery cooperative, founded in 1917, and operates as a wholesaler to independent grocer's throughout Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.

The nine Ultra Foods locations include:

• 501 South County Farm Road, Wheaton, Illinois 60187
• 16831 Torrance Avenue, Lansing, Illinois 60438
• 1590 North Larkin Avenue, Joliet, Illinois 60435
• 571 West 14th Place, Chicago Heights, Illinois 60411
• 13001 South Ashland Avenue, Calumet Park, Illinois 60827
• 7520 West Roosevelt Road, Forest Park, Illinois 60130

     Another grocery chain lost in the Chicago area. Its not just electronics and clothing chains closing, grocery store chains have some of the strongest competition. Jewel-Osco and Mariano's are now the two chains, among Save-a-lot, Aldi, and big box chains Meijer, Target, and Wal-Mart. There are too many choices to shop at, and in many neighborhoods, there is no where to shop, and residents have to go out of town for basics necessities.

Here is my article from March 2017 when Ultra Foods announced several closures.

Here is my article about Jewel-Osco potentially purchasing the remaining Strack & Van Til locations.

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Jewel-Osco Acquiring Strack & Van Til For $100 Million.

     Concerns from shoppers and employees of Ultra Foods locations shutting down, and parent company Strack & Van Til closing Indiana locations in the last few months. Itasca, Illinois- based grocery chain Jewel-Osco, which is owned by Albertsons has plans of taking over the remaining  Strack locations. Jewel-Osco has a predominant presence in the Chicagoland area with over 185 locations throughout the Chicago area, the quad cities and several in Northwest Indiana.

     Jewel plans on keeping all 19 remaining Strack and Town & Country markets open as they bid to buy the Highland, Ind- based chain out of bankruptcy. Jewel-Osco has no direct plans to re-brand the stores as Jewel, or keep there heritage going as Strack. Central grocers has not yet found a buyer for the Ultra Foods in Highland, Merrillville, and Kankakee, IL, as all remaining Ultra Foods stores have either closed or are in liquidation for the next few weeks.

     According to Northwest Indiana Times, Jewel has entered an agreement to buy the Strack locations from Joliet, IL-based Central Grocers, which is going out of business.

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Sears Grand- Gurnee, Illinois.

     I figured by now, fast Eddie would have either downsized the store, or closed in entirely. Nothing "grand" is left though, there are no electronics, no food or beauty departments. The store only sells clothing and housewares, like a typical Kmart. I assume the auto center is open, not when I was there and most of the registers were not being used, and the customer service is closed off.

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