Sears, Kmart sales slip again

Sears Holdings Corp. on Thursday reported declines in comparable-store sales at its Kmart and U.S. namesake chain for the crucial holiday season that were even sharper than for the third quarter, Reuters.com reports.

At its U.S. Sears stores, sales at stores open at least one year, an industry benchmark known as comparable sales, were down 9.2 percent in the nine weeks that ended Jan. 6 and down 5.7 percent at Kmart. The company’s shares were down sharply in after-hours trading.

Sales at the company have been falling since 2005.

“The results that we posted are not nearly what we want them to be,” Edward Lampert, Sears Holdings’ chief executive and top shareholder, wrote in a blog post.