84 Norf. Sears employees will lose jobs

NORFOLK, Va. (AP/WAVY) - 84 employees at the Sears location in Norfolk are losing their jobs. 

The store, located at 880 N Military Hwy, is one of over 100 stores slated to close its doors.

Back in Dec., Sears Holdings Corp. announced its plans to close between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores to raise cash after a weak holiday shopping season for the retailer.

Three Sears locations in Virginia are getting the ax, only one is in Hampton Roads. Until now, it was not known how many employees would be affected.

The company said that the store closings will generate $140 to $170 million in cash from inventory sales. It expects the sale or sublease of real estate holdings to add more cash.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill., company has more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Its stock dropped $10.66, or 23.3 percent, to $35.19 in midday trading. The shares dipped to their lowest point in more than three years at $35.13 earlier in the session.

Aside from the planned store closings, Sears is altering the way it handles stores that are not performing as well as others. The company says it will no longer prop up marginally performing stores in hopes of improving their performance and will now concentrate on cash-generating stores.

Sears Holdings said it also plans to lower its fixed costs by $100 million to $200 million and trim its 2012 peak domestic inventory by $300 million from 2011's $10.2 billion at the third quarter's end.