Financially troubled Sears is exiting the west San Fernando Valley market after a half-century retail run.

The company confirmed Wednesday it will close its store at Westfield Topanga on May 3, though it is not clear how many of the 122 employees will be laid off.

“Associates will have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Sears or Kmart stores,” Sears Holdings spokesman Howard Riefs said in an email.

The liquidation sale will start on Feb. 13, he said.

“Store closures are part of a series of actions we’re taking to reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” he wrote. “These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail — at the store, online and in the home.

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Some 115 corporate workers were also laid off on Wednesday, most of them at the company’s headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates.

“This represents a mix of positions in various departments across the organization. These decisions are never taken lightly, but they are a necessary part of our efforts to transform the company and return it to profitability,” Riefs said.

The chain has been battling economic headwinds of late.

In early December, it reported a widening loss and announced the closing of 235 underperforming stores as part of a cost-cutting measures timed to the close of its fiscal year at the end of this month. The company had already shuttered 129 by early December, said Edward S. Lampert, the company’s chairman and CEO, in a conference call with analysts and reporters, according to a transcript.

“Closing a store is never an easy decision. The associates, members and partners that are the backbone of our company are the people most affected,” he said.

In the third fiscal quarter of 2014, which are the most current results available, the company reported a loss of $548 million — equal to a drop of $5.15 per share but up from $534 million, or a loss of $5.03 per share, in the comparable period a year earlier.

Revenues plunged $1.1 billion — to $7.2 billion — for the quarter, down from $8.3 billion a year earlier.

The company, which operates more than 1,800 Sears and Kmart stores, is not releasing a list of the Sears to be closed, Riefs said, adding the Topanga store is the only confirmed branch impacted locally of the company’s 96 Kmart stores and 79 mall-based Sears in California.

This is the second big hit for mall owner Westfield, which is losing two Macy’s at its Promenade property a block away. The company is currently building the $350 million Village at Westfield Topanga on 30 acres south of Victory Boulevard between the two malls.

“Although we will be sorry to see Sears go, past performance demonstrates Westfield’s track record in recovering and reorienting former department store real estate, introducing new elements, energy and choices for our customers,” said Westfield spokeswoman Katy Dickey.

“We view this departure as an opportunity to do so at Topanga and will identify, explore and evaluate a range of new prospects for the center.”

Sears entered the West Valley retail mix in 1964, opening a 300,000-square-foot space at what is now called Fallbrook Center. It was the company’s largest store to that time.

The same year, Topanga Plaza opened a few miles to the east, anchored by The Broadway, May Company and Montgomery Ward, three department store names that are now just a memory. Sears moved into the 160,000-square-foot Broadway space in 1996.

Kenn Phillips, president and CEO of the Valley Economic Alliance, said the group is sad to see a longtime retailer leave the market but acknowledged that Sears is now operating in a crowded space with the likes of Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s while increasingly facing competition from online purveyors.

“You do reach a saturation point,” he said. “It does seem like everybody now sells washers and dryers and other types of similar products.”