Sears

Sears, Roebuck and Co.
	Willis Tower (previously Sears Tower), corporate headquarters from 1973 to 1995.
Trade name	Sears
Type	Subsidiary (Formerly Public)
Traded as	NYSE: S (1906–2005); DJIA component (1924–1999); S&P 100 component (until 2005); S&P 500 component (until 2005)
Industry	Retail
Founded	1886 as R.W. Sears Watch Company; 1892; Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Founders	Richard Warren Sears; Alvah Curtis Roebuck;
Defunct	March 24, 2005 (as Sears, Roebuck and Company)
Fate	Merged with Kmart to become Sears Holdings
Headquarters	Hoffman Estates, Illinois (originally Chicago, Illinois), U.S.
Number of locations	5 (2026)
Area served	United States
Products	Clothing; footwear; bedding; bath; furniture; jewelry; beauty products; electronics; appliances; housewares; tools; toys; auto repair;
Revenue	US$16.702 billion (2017); US$22.138 billion (2016);
Operating income	US$−0.430 billion (2017); US$−$1.978 billion (2016);
Parent	Sears Holdings (2005–2019); Transformco (2019–present);
Subsidiaries	Kenmore; Craftsman (1927–2017); DieHard (1967–2019); Sears Puerto Rico (1937–2025); Sears Canada (1952–2018); Orchard Supply Hardware (1996–2012); The Great Indoors (1997–2012);
Website	sears.com
	Footnotes; Financial data:,

Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears (/sɪərz/ SEERZ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer. The company was founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald. The company began as a mail-order catalog company and opened its first retail locations in 1925. Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States, but was surpassed in 1989 by Walmart.

In 2005, Eddie Lampert took control of the company through Kmart. The merger resulted in Sears Holdings. Sears' parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018. After the bankruptcy, Transformco has shifted focus onto managing and selling off the remaining real estate assets.

From 2,705 stores at its peak in 2011, only five stores are still open in the U.S. as of December 2025.