Sears Closing – Jamie in Wanderland

Richmond Mall — Richmond, Kentucky

Richmond Mall is actually one of the newer malls when it comes to the bluegrass state. It was a late comer to the mall craze, opening in September 1988. Richmond Mall was developed by the same company that developed the similar sized malls in Middlesboro, Somerset and Madisonville. When Richmond Mall opened it was home to Walmart, JC Penney, Goody’s and Dawahares. Walmart left Richmond Mall in March 1996 when they opened a supercenter next door. The biggest blow to Richmond Mall came in 2008 when Richmond Centre opened on the other side of town. When Richmond Centre opened it attracted JC Penney, Dawahares, Goodys and Hastings directly from Richmond Mall. According to an article in the Lexington Herald Leader, when Richmond Centre opened Richmond Mall had an occupancy rate of 98%. By 2010 that rate had dropped to below 50% and the mall was put up for auction.
Today the mall is home to a church, a Habitat for Humanity Re-store, a Mexican Restaurant, Payless Shoes and Bath & Body Works along with several other smaller local stores.
Oddly enough this location of Payless wasnt among the 400 store closures the chain recently announced.

Former Goody’s

The Sears Hometown store closed in January of 2017.

One Last Visit: Sears In Their Final Days at Fort Henry Mall

Can we all just agree right off the bat that I am just a big weirdo? A big, sentimental, nostalgia obsessed, incredibly handsome weirdo? As more and more Kmart and Sears closings have been announced over the past 12 months I have raced over the Midwest and Southeast trying to document these stores and give them a footnote in a very small chapter of a minute subject of our human existence. None of the stores, save for the Kmart in Corbin is or was more dear to my heart than the Sears at Fort Henry Mall.

Just after it was announced that this store would be closing i went over and visited and wrote up a blog entry covering the history of the store. That entry, along with photos from the visit can be found by clicking on this link.

Sears — Fort Henry Mall — Kingsport, Tennessee
The Sears at Fort Henry Mall will close for good at the end of the business day on Sunday March 26th.

At the time of this visit, with only three days left in business the attached auto center had already been closed for business and the signs removed.

The Package Pick Up area was busy with people picking up fixtures that they have bought from the store.
If I was a betting man I would bet that this spot could very well become home to the tri cities area’s first Dunham’s Sports store. (although if I had my way it would become home to the areas first At Home store).
Hull, the company that recently purchased Fort Henry Mall appears ready and willing to do what it takes to reinvigorate the mall and have stated changes are coming to the mall as early as this summer. The company (Hull) also seems to have a knack for filling vacated mall anchor stores with Dunham’s or TJ Maxx.

Former Sears — Oak Hollow Mall — High Point, North Carolina

It seems like over the past 5 or 6 years especially, everywhere you look there is a closed down Sears or Kmart store. It’s really sad, because I can remember a time when Sears and Kmart were the titans of retail. Now….they are kind of an also ran…..Anyways, this store is the Sears that was at Oak Hollow Mall in High Point, North Carolina. Enjoy.
The store opened April 9, 1995 and closed at the end of the business day on April 29, 2012.