MDN File Photo Shown in this November 1988 photo is the then new Sears store at Dakota Square Mall and the centerpiece of the mall’s latest expansion project. The announcement was made this week that the Minot’s Sears store will close in September.

Sears, a longtime fixture in Minot and an anchor store at Dakota Square Mall, is closing its doors in early September.

Media reports circulating Tuesday said Sears is closing 72 more stores, including the Minot store, in addition to 180 others that were already announced this year.

On Wednesday, Howard Riefs, director of Corporate Communications for Sears Holdings, provided a news release to the Minot Daily News with a few more details.

In his email, Riefs said corporate can confirm that they “are making the difficult, but necessary decision to close this (Minot) Sears store. The store will close to the public in early September. Until then, the store will remain open for customers. The store will begin its liquidation sale on June 16. We have been strategically and aggressively evaluating our store space and productivity, and have accelerated the closing of unprofitable stores as previously announced.”

He said they often hear from their members who are disappointed when they close a store. “But our Shop Your Way membership platform, websites and mobile apps allow us to maintain these valued relationships long after a store closes its doors. As a result, we hope to retain a portion of the sales previously associated with this store by maintaining our relationships with the members who shopped this location,” Riefs said. He said their members and customers can also shop at other Sears locations that are listed online.

Riefs said the number of associates at the Minot store is not publicly available. “Those associates that are eligible will receive severance and have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Sears or Kmart stores,” he said.

Chuck Massey, general manager of Dakota Square Mall, where Sears has been located since 1988, said, “We have plans in the works to use of the building but it’s too early to release it yet.”

Sears, formerly Sears, Roebuck & Co. has operated in Minot for many years. The 1945 Minot City Directory lists the department store at 10-12 Main Street N. in Minot, although the store may have been here before that time.

The Minot Daily News file provides more insight to the history of the store in Minot:

Sears, Roebuck & Co. moved to the south end of Town and Country Shopping Center in south Minot. Encompassing about 100,000 square feet with about 46,000 square feet for displaying merchandise, the store opened in February 1964. Incidentally, when Town and Country opened in 1964, it was the largest shopping center in North Dakota.

Twenty-four years later the store made another move, opening in the new Dakota Square Mall. Its grand opening was held there in early November 1988. The 90,000-square-foot Sears store opened in a new addition on the mall’s southwest side. When the store opened it had 200 to 250 employees, many of them part-time employees. Former Olympic hockey player Bill Christian was on hand when Sears held its grand opening in Dakota Square Mall.

For many years, a highlight for many families was the distribution of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. general catalogs and its yearly “Wish Book,” the Christmas catalog. Announcements of the catalog distributions were run in the Minot Daily News. One year local models joined Sears models for a fashion shoot at Roosevelt Park and others locations in and near Minot for the 1986 spring-summer catalog.

Many kids remember getting their first bicycles from Sears, Roebuck & Co. or families purchased many washers, dryers, refrigerators and other appliances, lawn mowers, along with Craftsmen’s tools, automotive supplies, clothing and many other items in the store.

Sears, Roebuck & Co., later changed to Sears, was the nation’s leading retailer for many years and the Minot store earned various top awards.