The Sears Hometown Store in Lightfoot will close this summer.
The store will close July 1, manager Will Bertholf said. A “blowout sale” is underway on many items throughout the store.
Sears Holdings announced May 31 that 48 Sears stores, as well as 15 Kmart locations, will begin closing in the near future. The stores were identified as non-profitable.
However, the Williamsburg store was not named on the list, as it is operated by a separate company according to a representative for Sears Holdings.
Rather than receiving a corporate mandate, the store is closing because it is facing a grim economic outlook.
“We weren’t selling enough,” Berthold said. “Our sales have dropped over the years because there’s not enough foot traffic.”
He added that the reason for the lack of foot traffic because of the condition of the shopping center.
“The owner of the property doesn’t maintain it,” Bertholf said. Plants and weeds are overgrown in front of many of the closed shops next to Sears.
The store is also located at the back of the shopping center, with low visibility from Richmond Road.
James City County property records list B & L of NC LLC as the owner of the shopping center. They did not return a request for comment.
Six people work for the store, Berntholf said.
The Sears store opened in February 2014 and sold appliances, tools, lawn equipment and other items.
