Sears Holding announces latest closures Thursday

Taft's Kmart Store will be closing in early April.

Sears Holdings, the parent company of Kmart, made the announcement Thursday.

"Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base and will continue to right size our store footprint in number and size, Sears Holding said in a statement released Thursday. "In the process, as previously announced we will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members. The company on Thursday, January 4 informed associates at 64 Kmart stores and 39 Sears stores that we will be closing these stores between early March and early April 2018."

Sears wouldn't say how many of its employees would be impacted by the closings but did say the majority of the jobs are part-time positions, and eligible associates will receive severance."

The Taft Kmart had been open for a quarter of a century and had survived several earlier rounds of store closures.

But there were cutbacks that signaled the local store was struggling.

The store's garden entrance was closed.

In the fall, Kmart closed the local pharmacy.

The Taft store is one of five California Kmarts closing in the latest round. The others are in Cudahy, Redding, Arroyo Grande and Ontario.