Abandoned Michigan Sears Store: A Silent Reminder

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property.

Sears stores were founded in 1886 as the R.W. Sears Watch Company in Chicago. Along with Richard Sears, the company was co-founded by Alvah Roebuck.

For almost one hundred years, Sears was the largest retailer in the entire country. After more retailers and competitors began to filter through the country, Sears' popularity dwindled, until by 2018 it was no longer Number One...they had slipped all the way down to Number Thirty-One.

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In 2018 and 2022, Sears was involved in two bankruptcies and by spring of 2024 there were only ten Sears stores left in the continental United States.

Abandoned, deserted, and empty Sears stores now dot the countryside, and Michigan has a good number of 'em. Thanks to Pinetop Jackson, the gallery below depicts one of Michigan's former Sears stores, which may give old Sears customers a sense of recognition or sentiment.