Ours is staying open, a good move for the area.

Wow, they are pulling out of my hometown. I haven't shopped at Sears in years. They just didn't carry stuff I found appealing.

Seldom are they any good deals from store closings. They jack up the prices first, then discount them back to where they were. Also, Sears has outlet stores.

Same thing is happening over here - the big department store chains such as Debenhams, House of Fraser and John Lewis are closing a lot of stores (British Home Stores is already no more); while the independent department stores mostly vanished back in the 1980s and early 90s. It's sad in a way because I always enjoyed visiting them (and, as a teen, trawling round all the cosmetics and perfume counters with my friends trying to convince the staff we were the spoiled brats of the mega-rich, so that they'd give us gift bags stuffed with free samples in the hope we might return with Daddy's Centurion card*), but they were never going to be able to compete with Amazon.

I'm sure everyone thought it was sad when the department stores ended the era when you had to go to different shops for each item you wanted to buy, too; c'est la vie.

• Which reminds me: Why do all the assistants on Chanel counters the world over look exactly the same? Are they clones?