Sears files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Monday. The retailer will close 142 of its 700-plus remaining stores and eliminate thousands of jobs in a bid to stay afloat.

Section:Gallery

Mon., Oct. 15, 2018

Spokane Valley Mall customers walk through the parking lot near its Sears store on Monday. Area Sears and Kmart stores are not among the 142 slated for closure by Sears Holdings in under the designated for closure in set to close under local stores are set to close as the Sears bankruptcy filing continues. Kathy Plonka/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Spokane Valley Mall customers use the escalators near Sears on Monday, Oct.15, 2018. None of the local stores are set to close as the Sears bankruptcy filing continues.

Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses. The company once dominated the American landscape, but whether a smaller Sears can be viable remains in question.

Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
FILE- In this July 21, 1983, file photo mannequins are shown as Sears, Roebuck & Co. unveiled their "Store of the Future" in King of Prussia, Pa. Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses.

David Fields Associated Press
FILE - This May 3, 1973, file photo shows the topping ceremonies taking place atop the Sears Tower to mark the building reaching 1,454 feet in Chicago, from the view of from a helicopter looking northeast. Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses. The company once dominated the American landscape, but whether a smaller Sears can be viable remains in question.

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FILE - In this July 16, 1969, file photo people watch the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket launch on multiple TV's at a Sears department store in White Plains, N.Y. Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses. The company once dominated the American landscape, but whether a smaller Sears can be viable remains in question.

Ron Frehm Associated Press
FILE - In this Aug. 23, 1961, file photo shopper Arlene Hardt, right, is shown drapery samples by clerk Lucille Jagusch at the Golf-Mill Sears Roebuck department store in Niles, Ill. Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses. The company once dominated the American landscape, but whether a smaller Sears can be viable remains in question.

File Associated Press
FILE - This March 1, 1959, file photo shows a Sears building in downtown Houston. Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses. The company once dominated the American landscape, but whether a smaller Sears can be viable remains in question.

Houston Chronicle Associated Press
FILE- In this Aug. 26, 1948, file photo women's hats are pictured in a 1907 Sears Roebuck catalog from the shelves of the Chicago Public Library, in Chicago. Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses. The company once dominated the American landscape, but whether a smaller Sears can be viable remains in question.

Edward Kitch Associated Press
This photo was taken March 3, 1930, less than a week after Sears, Roebuck & Co. opened a new store in Spokane at 906 W. Main. Sears invested $750,000 in the building site and stock. The building had three stories and a full basement and was equipped with the lastest combined heating and ventilating system.

Photo Archive Sr
FILE - In this 1930s file photo, General Robert E. Wood, president of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and Julius Rosenwald, chairman of the board, posing for a photo next to an All State tire, outside of the Sears Distribution Center, in Atlanta. Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Associated Press
FILE - In an undated file photo, Ruth Parrington, librarian in the art department of the Chicago Public Library, studies early Sears Roebuck catalogs in the library's collection in Chicago. The catalog Parrington is holding features women's fashion from 1902. Sears has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, buckling under its massive debt load and staggering losses.

File Associated Press