Sears, Roebuck and Co.,[4] commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1892, and reincorporated by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald in 1906. Formerly based at the Sears Tower in Chicago and currently headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, the operation began as a mail ordering catalog company and began opening retail locations in 1925. The first location was in Chicago, Illinois.[5] In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box chain Kmart, which formed Sears Holdings upon completion of the merger.

Through the 1980s, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States; Walmart and Kmart surpassed Sears in sales in 1990.[6] In 2018, Sears was the 31st-largest retailer in the United States.[7] After several years of declining sales, Sears' parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018.[8] Sears announced on January 16, 2019, that it had won its bankruptcy auction and would shrink and remain open with 425 stores, including 223 Sears stores.[9] Nevertheless, the trend of Sears and Kmart store closures continues, with only 95 stores, including 61 Sears stores, expected to remain open after a wave of store closures announced in July 2020.[10][better source needed]