After a 9th straight quarterly loss giant retailer, Sears, is planning on closing stores around the country. Hardly good news for the on-going recession. Hardest hit are the Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana areas. Since February of this year, 130 under-performing stores were slated to be closed. As of August the company has moved to close at least 46 Kmart stores, 30 Sears department stores and 31 Sears Auto Centers and more due to close before Christmas or by the end of January 2015. Sears had 1,077 Kmart stores and 793 Sears stores in the United States as of Aug. 2. The company had 226,000 U.S. employees as of Feb. 1.