Days counted for Hawaii’s last Sears store

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Everything must go! The Sears Appliances and Mattress store at Ala Moana Center is having a liquidation sale as the last Sears brick-and-mortar location in Hawaii prepares to close.

The sale signs are all over the store, and everything in the store is between 10% to 30% off.

Downtown resident Kimberly Rhode said it is sad to see yet another notorious retailer closing.

Rhode said, “That is sad, it’s kind of how the Kmarts went yea.”

The same parent company bought Sears and KMart, Transformco, which had announced a list of closures throughout the country for both retailers.

A store associate said there is no closing date yet for Hawaii’s last standing Sears location.

The Retail Merchants of Hawaii President Tina Yamaki said changing shopping behaviors and online retailers have changed the game.

Yamaki said, “Online shopping has made it so much easier for price compare of everything. Or if you’re looking for something and it’s not here in Hawaii, you can order it online someplace else.”

The Sears Appliances and Mattress store prepares to close nearly a year after the last Sears department store closed on Maui.

In the past store closure announcements, Transformco said it planned to, “Operate a diversified portfolio of a small number of larger premier stores with a larger number of format stores.”

The company also said it would focus on its reward program and online marketplace.

“Before it was a retailer who told the customers, this is what you want,” Yamaki said. “And now with social media and all of that it’s the customers telling retailers, this is what we want.”

There is still no word from Ala Moana Center if whether there is a new tenant lined up to fill the space. But the street-level spot that faces busy Kapiolani Boulevard has the potential to get many eyes passing by.

“We are seeing a lot of these spaces that were empty, being filled out, especially with new local businesses coming on board,” Yamaki said. “And, you know, the good thing about them is, you know, their business plan has the pandemic and all these other things in mind.”

Sears associates said the appliance repair services will continue operating despite the store’s planned closures.