Jefferson City's Kmart and Sears stores are among the latest group their ownership company announced will close this spring.
Sears Holdings announced planned closures of 78 Kmart stores and 26 Sears stores across the United States Wednesday, a week after informing associates at an additional 30 Kmart and 16 Sears stores - bringing the total to 108 Kmart stores and 42 Sears stores.
"Many of these stores have struggled with their financial performance for years, and we have kept them open to maintain local jobs and in the hopes that they would turn around," the statement says. "But in order to meet our objective of returning to profitability, we have to make tough decisions and will continue to do so, which will give our better performing stores a chance at success."
Kmart has been located at 2304 Missouri Blvd. for years.
Jefferson City's Sears store, located at Capital Mall, will close its auto center as well. Capital Mall General Manager Jamie Reed confirmed Wednesday both the store and auto center will close.
Eligible employees at the stores set to close will receive severance and will be able to apply for open positions at nearby Kmart or Sears store, according to the statement.
Liquidation sales could begin as early as Jan. 6, and the stores are set to close at the end of March.
Kmart stores in Branson, Rolla, Springfield and St. Louis and a Sears store in St. Joseph also are set to close.
A full list of planned store closures is available here.
Kmart and Sears, Roebuck and Co. merged in 2005.