Sears to close 43 more stores to cut costs

Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O) is closing eight of its namesake department stores and 35 Kmart locations to cut costs and square footage in an effort to return to profitability, Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert said on Friday.

The store closings are in addition to 150 the company announced in January. Once the largest U.S. retailer, Sears has struggled with years of losses and declining sales as shoppers have shifted from the mall to the web. The company said in February it would cut costs this year by at least $1 billion.

Shares of Sears fell as much as 4.8 percent in afternoon trading.

"This is part of a strategy both to address losses from unprofitable stores and to reduce the square footage of other stores because many of them are simply too big for our current needs," Lampert wrote in a blog post.

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