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TORONTO — Sears Canada Inc. has occupied a large end lot at the Cottonwood Mall in Chilliwack, B.C., since the retail emporium first opened in 1974. The only original anchor tenant remaining in the building, at close to 96,000 square feet, Sears is also the mall’s largest.

With that in mind, Sears’s announcement that it will not be able to operate beyond this year without new financing might be bad news for Cottonwood Mall, particularly since the other end of it is home to a vast space that has been vacant since Target departed two years ago.

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“I’m afraid that if Sears left it might be disastrous for that whole mall,” said Fieny van den Boom, executive director of Chilliwack’s Chamber of Commerce.

Van den Boom would like smaller retailers to benefit from any vacant mall space, but she is concerned about the overall health of lower-tier, older malls in the community that are already riddled with smaller storefront vacancies.