TOLEDO, Ohio — There are new plans for the former west Toledo Sears store in that has been sitting empty since 2017.
Chicago-based Abbell Credit Corporation, owners of the adjacent Westgate Village Shopping Center, plan to buy the empty Sears store and demolish it to make way for something new.
Though it was once a thriving retail destination, the West Central Avenue store was one 20 struggling locations closed by Sears in 2017 as sales lagged.
Since then the store, along with the nearby vacant former Elder-Beerman property on Secor Road, have been the focus of discussions about retail redevelopment in west Toledo.
In February, 2020, Toledo City Council voted to reject a 15-year tax-exemption package for a company hoping to bring a Bob's Discount Furniture and TJ Maxx to the Elder-Beerman site.
At the time, some elected officials pointed to redevelopment in the area, including new Whole Foods and Krispy Kreme stores, as evidence that revitalizing the Secor Road corridor did not require incentives.
Sears closed its doors around the same time as The Andersons shuttered its retail locations, including the Talmadge Road location just a couple of miles from Sears. In late 2021, HomeBuys opened a store on the former Andersons' property.
Abbell officials did not disclose the purchase price, the project timeline or their specific plans for the former Sears store.
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