The Sears department store in Union City will close in December with the loss of nearly 100 jobs, a spokeswoman for the retail chain told Channel 2 Action News.
Sears is the last major anchor store – indeed, one of the last businesses at all – at Union Station Mall, formerly Shannon Southpark. The store will be shuttered because it is an “underperformer,” Sears Holdings Corp. spokeswoman Kimberly Freely said.
Kimberly said the store would begin liquidating on Aug. 28. "We plan to close the store at the beginning of December but that can be a little flexible based on the liquidation," she said.
The 92 associates who now work there will be notified of openings at other Sears stores, Freely said. Those who qualify will receive severance. The retailer does not plan to close any other stores in metro Atlanta.
When Shannon Southpark opened in 1980, it was heralded as an opportunity for the region. Shoppers came from throughout south Fulton County and from as far away as Columbus and LaFayette, Ala.
But changing consumer tastes and fresher competition saw the number of people shopping there dwindle. By November, the mall was in foreclosure, and Georgia Power had shut off its electricity.
Its two anchors, Sears and Macy's, owned their own land and remained open. But Macy’s announced plans to close its store there in January.
Former mall owner Lee Najjar, reportedly the "Big Poppa" of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" fame for his association with Kim Zolciak, told the AJC in January that he had bought the financially struggling mall about eight years ago but was unsuccessful in his efforts to turn it around.
That month, the mall was sold in foreclosure for $5 million.
Sears is the second major retailer to announce an Atlanta-area store closing this week.
On Sunday night, nearly 100 people found themselves unemployed without warning when a Lowe’s home improvement store on Ga. 85 in Riverdale closed its doors for good over the weekend.
The employees said they were called to the store for a meeting at 8:45 p.m. Sunday, where they learned the store was shutting down.
A Lowe’s spokesman told Channel 2 that the Clayton County store is one of seven across the country that were closed Sunday night due to low sales, eliminating nearly 700 jobs. Two stores are in Illinois, and the others are in Alaska, Connecticut, Minnesota and New York.
-- Staff writer Rachel Tobin contributed to this article.
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