Sears shoppers search for final bargains as sales set to end Monday

The one word you'll hear on the lips of Sears shoppers in St. John's is "sad."

In less than 48 hours the retail outlet will be closing its doors at the Avalon Mall for good. All cash-trained Sears staff will finish their final shift Monday at 5:30 p.m., CBC News was told Saturday.

A handful of people were chasing down deals on the last few items left in the former retail giant.

"It's kind of like the end of an era," said Leslie Barron as she exited the store Saturday..

She's hoping the void will be filled with retailers not currently in the province, such as H&M and Forever 21.

"It's sad to see it go and it's unfortunate for the people that work there," Barron said.

Paul Martin blamed the Newfoundland and Labrador economy for stores closing their doors.

"I hate going to the mall and seeing things closing," Martin said.

He said the store is dreary now, a sad thing to see aside from the prices. He hopes the space won't take long to fill, and that the mall might consider diversifying their retailers.

"I'd like to see something for men. It'd be nice to have something more for men or something family-oriented," he said.

Elizabeth Buckle of Corner Brook — where Sears' location has already closed — says it's sad because the store has been around for such a long time.

"It was always the place to go to get bedding and sheets. The catalogue was always the thing to do around Christmas time," she said.

For those items now, Buckle figures she will have to shop online, but she'll have a last look in the Avalon Mall anchor before its doors close, but she was disappointed by the bargains on offer during the Corner Brook location's last days.

"The prices were still up really high. They weren't really sale prices."

Gary Noftall was hoping to score a deal on a new frying pan, but said he doesn't come here often.

"That's probably part of the issue, a lot of people probably don't shop here that often," Noftall said.

"Every mall needs an anchor, but I think a lot of retail outlets are going to go the way of Sears. Amazon is the way of the future and it's tough to beat," he said. 

He's hoping the nearly 130,000-square-foot area will still be used for retail space.

"It would be a shame to see something like a call centre end up here," Noftall said.