Sears closes at The Gardens Mall; once-dominant retailer has only two Florida stores left

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Sears,  struggling financially for years nationwide, has ended its 36-year run at The Gardens Mall and closed its doors.

The store was one of the original anchor tenants when the mall on PGA Boulevard east of Interstate 95 in Palm Beach Gardens opened in 1988. The others were Burdines, since closed, and the second Macy’s in Florida.

The 147,592-square-foot store was once known for tools, appliances and other household goods, as well as apparel and shoes for the entire family, and even auto repairs.

“A founding department store for Sears Palm Beach Gardens retail destination, Sears will close this month at The Gardens Mall. The Forbes Company, along with their partners, are working together to announce new plans for the repurposing of the two-level retail space,” a Gardens Mall spokesperson said in a statement issued Thursday. Feb. 29.

A sign posted outside the darkened store states the closure was effective Friday, March 1.

Only two Sears stores left in Florida after Gardens Mall store closes

Sears once had stores across Florida as well as the rest of the nation. Only two Sears stores remain open in Florida, one in Coral Gables and one in Orlando.

Sears leases the space at the Palm Beach Gardens luxury shopping, dining and entertainment complex, which is home to 160-plus specialty shops and restaurants.

The mall's anchors are Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom, with other high-end stores such as Brooks Brothers, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel and Tiffany & Co.

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Miami firm JLL (for Jones Lang LaSalle) is marketing the leasehold interest and touts it as a “strategically positioned big box opportunity.” The average household income within a 5-mile radius is $111,503, and the mall is one of Florida’s most established and affluent trade areas, the firm states.

The mall’s owner, The Forbes Company, LLC, and Sears' corporate office did not immediately respond to requests for information.

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Sears for years tried to lease second floor to Dick's Sporting Goods

Sears came to The Gardens Mall after closing its store at the old Twin City Mall on Northlake Boulevard, lured there by a 30-year lease with several options to extend it. As the company's finances and shopping habits changed, it began to look for ways to sublease parts of the building, which stands at the mall's east end.

Litigation over Sears’ efforts to sublease part of its space to Dick’s Sporting Goods has been ongoing for years, and issues stemming from that are still being heard in state and federal court, even though Dick's eventually dropped its plans.

In 2011 Sears started preparing its second floor to sublease it and began discussions with Dick’s, according to lawsuits.

Forbes/Cohen Florida Properties opposed the move, and in 2014, Sears’ parent company, Transform Operating Stores LLC, sued, arguing it had the right to sublease the space without Forbes’ OK. Sears officials alleged Forbes blocked the sublease because it wanted the Sears property back.

Sears later added the City of Palm Beach Gardens to the lawsuit because of its 2012 resolution that said mall anchors could not sublease without city approval. In 2017 the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled the resolution unconstitutional and said Sears had the right to sublease.

In 2015 Sears and Dick’s agreed to a sublease. In 2018, following the Parkland school shooting, Dick’s announced it would not sell guns or ammunition at the proposed store, a move some thought might make the deal more acceptable.

But Forbes and the city continued to fight the subleasing. Dick’s officials stated that Forbes executives did not consider Dick’s high-end enough for the mall, court records show.

Court records refer to 2020 emails from a luxury builder to Forbes and a hotel management firm about the possibility of developing a hotel or apartments at the 10-acre Sears’ site. The developer stated that Forbes was waiting for Sears to go out of business so Forbes could redevelop the property.

In 2019, Forbes sued Sears' parent company, asking a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge for a ruling that Transform can't change the mall's longstanding rules about its stores' appearance and design, including the look of anchor retailers such as Sears.

Transform fired back with a counterclaim in 2020, alleging, among things, tortious interference with the company's business dealings.

Transform said efforts to kill the Dick's deal were engineered to get back the valuable Sears space and end the company's below-market, long-term lease at the luxury shopping center. The mall has denied the allegations. A trial is set for August.

Meanwhile, a 2020 federal lawsuit by Dick's Sporting Goods against the mall's owner also continues.

In the U.S. District Court complaint, Dick's seeks lost profits from the never-built store, which it said it could have opened as far back as 2016. Dick's also seeks out-of-pocket costs and punitive damages. The sporting goods retailer does not have a north Palm Beach County store but says it desires one.

Dick's also alleged that Forbes blocked the Dick's sublease because the mall wants the Sears property back, despite Sears' long lease on the site. A trial on the Dick's lawsuit is set for September.

Neither Forbes nor Transform responded to requests for comment.

Sears closed 600-plus stores in 4 years as online shopping rose

Brick-and-mortar retailers have been hurt by the rise of online shopping, and Sears is a prime example.

Once the world’s largest retailer, Sears has 13 stores left in the U.S., according to published reports. The company began in 1886 in Minneapolis as a mail-order watch and jewelry service, and it grew to become famous for its catalogs.

In 1973 Sears completed the 110-story Sears Tower in Chicago, where it was headquartered. In 2009, the tower's name was changed to Willis Tower, after London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings.

In 2018, after several years of losses, Sears filed for bankruptcy. At that time, it had 687 stores. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2022 with only 15 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

A former Sears store at Town Center at Boca Raton has been vacant since 2018, and the store at the Boynton Beach Mall closed in 2019. That mall is for sale as a teardown and also is being marked by JLL.

The Sears Town store that opened on South Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach in 1956 closed decades ago.

Staff writer Alexandra Clough contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Sears closes store at Gardens Mall, leaving only two Florida outlets