Whole Foods eyes old Sears sites for expansion

E-commerce giant Amazon’s Whole Foods Market division is eyeing some Sears and Kmart locations for expansion.

US department store chain Sears, which closed 123 stores and 205 Kmart stores over the last three years, still has more than 400 stores that could be bought in a liquidation auction.

According to a Yahoo! Finance report, Whole Foods is now eyeing Sear’s old sites hoping to take advantage of the bankrupt retailer’s locations in states like Montana and Wyoming which were previously considered out of its reach.

Now facing liquidation, the embattled US retail chain has been extended a lifeline in the form of a new takeover bid of more than US$5 billion from chairman Eddie Lampert.

The bid was made after Lampert’s previous efforts, a US$4.4 billion offer as well as a secondary offer to purchase 250 of the retailers locations, were seen to be “administratively insolvent” – unable to cover the fees and vendor payments owed – and ultimately rejected.

With the renewed $5 billion offer on the table, and a bankruptcy court hearing set yesterday, the bankrupt retailer could soon lose its business.

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