Store closings include 5 Kmart stores in 3 states and Puerto Rico and 21 large-format Sears stores in 15 states

Transform Holdco, the company formed in January to buy the remaining assets of bankrupt retailer Sears Holdings Corp., said it will begin “liquidation sales” next week in 26 stores that will close in late October.

The large-format store closures include 21 Sears stores in 15 states and 5 Kmart stores in 3 states and Puerto Rico.

“After careful review of where we are today, we believe the right course for the company is to accelerate the expansion of our smaller store formats which includes opening additional Home & Life stores and adding several hundred Sears Hometown stores after the Sears Hometown and Outlet transaction closes,” Transform Holdco said in a statement. “Following these steps, we will continue to evaluate our network of Sears and Kmart stores and cannot rule out additional store closures in the near term.”

Transform Holdco had made a bid to buy all of the Sears Hometown & Outlet Store stock that wasn’t already owned by former Sears Chief Executive Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc. and its affiliates.

Shares of Sears SHLDQ, +0.57%, which filed for bankruptcy in October 2018, have tumbled 36.6% year to date through Thursday and 68.2% over the past 12 months. In comparison, the SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund XRT, -2.26%  has gained 0.3% this year and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.66%  has advanced 17.2%……more here