MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Two rusted service vans are parked near the entrance like symbols of a retailer’s fall from favor.
St. Paul’s Sears department store has anchored a busy corner near the State Capitol since 1963. Suddenly, the store is living its last weekend. All merchandise has been discounted by 50 to 80 percent off retail.
READ MORE: Minnesota Legislature Races To Complete Its Work, But Time Running Out“I know it’s because of the internet and online shopping. I like brick and mortar,” longtime shopper, Carol Schwartzbauer, said.
So Schwartzbauer’s bargain hunting inside is bittersweet.
“I lived in the Midway area since 1983, and St. Paul since I was born. I watched the Wards come down, it’s sad, so sad,” she said.
Sears has been struggling with massive debt taken on from a 2008 leveraged buyout. But also reeling from the consumer’s changing shopping habits.
Combined, those factors are forcing Sears to close more than one-third of the chain’s 700 stores to navigate bankruptcy protection.
Walking into the store, Getinet Kidamemariam explained, “I bought my first warm jacket here, a lot of good memories.”
READ MORE: Wisconsin Republicans Reject Recalling Biden Votes, Removing VosKidamemariam emigrated from Ethiopia back in 2003 and says Sears was the first store he shopped in. Years later he’d get a job working in the men’s department. On Friday, he stopped by for one final look.
“It’s really, really sad. Actually, I came to say goodbye and to pay my final tribute to the store,” Kidamemariam adds.
The store once housed the local Department of Motor Vehicles office, which recently relocated to a location along University Avenue.
A cruise through the store reveals shelves which are mostly bare, as bargain hunters scavenge racks of clothing and a few remaining Kenmore appliances.
“I came here looking for a refrigerator but they are all gone. Yea, it’s just a shell in there,” local entertainer, Sean Tillmann, said.
A shell of real estate soon to be prime for future redevelopment. But for the weekend at least, standing as a faded symbol of how Minnesota families once shopped.
MORE NEWS: Tow Boat Hits Lock And Dam On Mississippi River In WisconsinThe two remaining Sears stores at Ridgedale and Mall of America are planned to close in March.