Sunrise Mall takes another hit, this time from an anchor store. Sears, which has had a location in Corpus Christi since 1928, will permanently close its doors sometime before Christmas, the company announced August 30. A liquidation sale is expected to begin in mid-September.
“After careful review, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close the Sears store in Corpus Christi, Texas,” reads a statement released by Sears Holdings. “We encourage customers to continue shopping on Sears.com for all their product needs.”
City Hall now resides at the location of the first Sears store, which moved to Airline and South Padre Island Drive in 1974. Sunrise Mall followed, opening in 1981 with Sears as an anchor and one of the few businesses there that owns its property. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
The mall recently closed its interior. The only businesses left all have outside entrances, including Planet Fitness, Freedom Fitness, Wilcox Furniture, and Burlington Coat Factory. Also in the mall are New Life Church and Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend.
Sears Holding first announced it was closing 200 stores nationwide in October 2018. At the time, the Corpus Christi location was not on the list of lost causes. However, a Portland Kmart, which is also owned by Sears Holding, did close.