Sears Canada Inc. plans to liquidate its remaining stores with the loss of about 12,000 jobs, unable to fend off the march to online shopping after operating in malls and towns across the country for 65 years.

The Toronto-based chain will seek court approval for the filing on Friday and begin liquidation sales at its remaining 150 stores on Oct. 19 at the earliest, according to a statement Tuesday. The move follows a last-minute attempt by executive chairman Brandon Stranzl, backed by Blackstone Group, to put together an offer to save the retailer.

But the company said it didn’t receive a viable bid to keep the stores operating as a going concern. Sears Canada filed for creditor protection in June with liabilities of $880 million and had been gradually closing its 225 stores.

The retailer is the latest victim of department-store decline that’s swept North America as shoppers gravitate online. While the retailer has dabbled in pop-up stores and e-commerce, its distribution centers aren’t as automated as Amazon.com Inc. or even Canadian peer Hudson’s Bay Co., which last year opened its own robotic facility to accelerate online orders.

“When you have the likes of Amazon that is investing in research and development continuously, it’s just too much for them to react quickly enough,” Jean Rickli, a senior adviser at retail consultants J.C. Williams Group, said from Toronto. “It follows the trend of what we noticed in the U.S., with department stores and their decline.”


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