Despite closing dozens of stores and laying off 200 corporate employees as it tried to stave off a bankruptcy filing, Sears racked up nearly $1.9 billion in losses in the nine months ending Nov. 3, the Chicago Tribune reported. That’s more than triple the sum the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based department store chain reported in the same nine-month period in 2017, according to a quarterly financial report filed yesterday. More than half those losses came during the three months leading up to Nov. 3, during which Sears filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Sears slashed costs by about 25 percent during the first nine months of this fiscal year compared with the same period in 2017, according to the filing. But sales of merchandise and services dropped faster over the same nine-month period.
