Washington state's last Sears closes up shop

The last Sears in Washington state will permanently close its doors this weekend.

The Southcenter Sears had been nearly emptied Wednesday, with only a few refrigerators, clothing racks, and odds and ends remaining. Several shoppers who showed up for the closeout sale called it the end of an era.

“It had its season,” said Ain-akilah Barnett astride an exercise bike she was considering. She said she would “keep those memories, always, like I have of my dad and how Sears was really important to my parents. However, change with the changes.”

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It’s a hard change for Barbie Talamante to swallow. She’s worked at Sears for more than 10 years, and this is the second store she’s had to close down.

“This time it's more nostalgic, because it's Sears,” she said. “It's a landmark, it's something you grew up with, it's something you could trust. As a little kid you'd go into a Sears store, your parents would buy the washers, dryers, paint, draperies, whatever.”

In its heyday, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States, according to the Smithsonian, which called the 131-year-old department store the “distribution arm of industrial America.”

Despite is reputation for good bargains, discount stores like Walmart siphoned off customers with lower prices. Walmart dethroned Sears as the nation’s largest retailer in the 90s. The rise of online shopping giants, like Amazon, made it even harder for Sears to compete. Sears did not respond to KUOW's request to comment on the closure.

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Only a handful of Sears remain across the country. The store has become a symbol for how much shopping in America has changed over the past few decades — but not for everyone.

“I don't shop online,” Talamante said. “I like to touch, feel, see, look for the bargains, just have the experience. I know the world is changing, well has changed, to shopping online so maybe I might have to learn or do that.”