Ohio-based Sears Appliance and Hardware to close

Sears Appliance and Hardware, which opened more than a decade ago in Toledo, Ohio, is scheduled to close by the end of June, according to the Toledo Blade.

This is just one of several businesses that have announced closures along a two-mile stretch that is the busiest thoroughfare between Toledo and its largest suburb, Bedford Township. Others that have closed in recent months include a Value City department store and Fazoli’s Italian Restaurant.

The Sears Hardware store opened in a former grocery store in the late 1990s, filling a void left by the departures of both Handy Andy and Builder's Square, the article said. That was before Home Depot and Lowe's came into the area.

Kim Freely, a Sears Holdings Corp. representative, said the store is “closing for business reasons,” the article said. It is one of approximately 110 such stores in the company’s portfolio and “the only one closing this year that we’ve announced,” she said.