Sears Sears Sears, Roebuck and Company, colloquially known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1893, reincorporated (a formality for a history-making consumer sector initial public offering) by Richard Sears and new partner 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 Evansville, Indiana. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box
Sears Canada of Distinctive Appliances and the sale was due to be completed in December 2017. The headquarters were in Downtown Toronto, inside an eight-story complex which was formerly the home to Sears' flagship location within the Toronto Eaton Centre until 2014. The headquarters moved there from 222 Jarvis Street after that building was sold in 2007. The lower four floors of the Eaton Centre location remained in use for retail, including a three-floor Nordstrom store from fall 2016 onwards, while the upper four floors continued as Sears Canada headquarters. This headquarters remained active until the retailer completed liquidation on January 14,