Sears closing its Avalon Mall store in St. John's

Sears Canadahas announced it is closing 10 more of its stores in the country, including its longtime anchor store in the Avalon Mall inSt. John's, in the coming months.

In a release issued at 10 p.m. Newfoundland time Friday, the company stated it"has entered into a number of lease surrender agreements and a lease amending agreement that will result in the exit of the retail locations listed below," including the Avalon Mall location.

In June, it was announced that the Sears store in Corner Brook was included in the chain's national restructuring. It had been part of the city's retail landscape for 40 years.

With the St. John's location being axed, there will be no Sears store in this province, although it is not known if Sears Hometown stores will also close.

The retail locations affected in this latest announcementare located in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sears saidabout 1,200 employees will be affected by this latest closure.

It is not currently known how many employees at the St. John's store will lose their jobs.