Sears will close its Concord Mall store in north Wilmington this spring.

Larry Costello, spokesman for Sears Holding successor Transformco offered the following statement:“After careful review, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close the Sears store in Wilmington, Delaware. The liquidation sale will begin this week and the store is planned to close in mid-April. We encourage customers to continue shopping on Sears.com for all their product needs.”

Costello said the company would make no further comment on closing its last Delaware store. Sears has a closeout center in Christiana and franchised hardware stores in the region.

The store is one of three anchors in the mall off Route 202. The others are Boscov’s and Macy’s.

The closing had been anticipated in recent years as Sears Holdings went through bankruptcy proceedings. Shoppers had also reported an already light selection of goods at the Concord store, which has hardware, appliance clothing, and auto departments.

Sears. had earlier closed stores in Dover and Prices Corner. All of the company’s Kmart stores in Delaware are closing. In its bid to raise cash, Sears has also cannibalized sales at its stores by having. other retailers sell iconic brands like Craftsman and Diehard.

Sears stores elsewhere have been converted into multiple tenant facilities that can include fitness or medical centers.The Prices Corner Sears site is slated to become a Target.

The sale comes as Concord Mall’s mortgage was acquired by a real estate firm that specializes in buying Class B and C malls with falling occupancy rates. The mall had been owned by Delaware-based Allied Retail Properties

The occupancy rate of interior stores in the mall has been dropping as national and local stores exit the 800,000 square foot complex.

Smaller malls have been struggling while destination centers like Christiana Mall have operated with occupancy rates above 90 percent.

Retailers are now turning to open-air lifestyle centers like Allied Retail Properties, Christiana Fashion Center.

A sports card store and a fitness center were the latest tenants to close their doors in Concord Mall.

Delaware Business Times first reported the closing.