TORONTO – Sears Canada says it’s selling a distribution centre in Vaughan, Ont., north of Toronto for $100 million but will remain a tenant once the transaction closes next year.
The department store operator also announced Friday that it has vacated another distribution centre and sold it for $8.5 million in a transaction expected to close by the end of 2015.
These two agreements are in addition to a $18.125-million sale of a distribution centre and the sale-leaseback of a non-mall property for $10 million, both announced in September and both expected to close by year end.
Sears Canada has been undergoing years of downsizing as a result of financial losses and reduced revenue from retailing.
“Sears Canada is taking a proactive approach to its real estate strategy,” Brandon Stranzl, the company’s executive chairman, said in a statement.
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He said the sale of non-core real estate will improve the company’s balance sheet and help ongoing efforts to re-establish Sears Canada as a major retailer in a changing marketplace.
Despite selling many of its largest stores in major cities, Sears Canada continues to have a national retail network of 166 corporate stores, 177 Hometown stores and more than 1,200 pickup locations for catalogue and online sales.
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