NASHUA – The Pheasant Lane Mall will soon be looking to fill a large vacancy because the Sears store is expected to be closed by February.

Long-struggling retailer Sears was the world’s largest store until Walmart surpassed it in 1991. In an effort to compete with Walmart, Sears and Kmart merged in 2005 to form Sears Holdings Corp.

In February, Transformco acquired most of the assets of what was left of Sears.

According to a company news release, Transformco will close a total of 96 remaining Sears and Kmart locations, with going out of business sales to begin on Dec. 2.

After the planned closures, Transformco officials said they will operate 182 stores.

“We will endeavor to create and deliver value through a strategic combination of our better performing retail stores and our service businesses, brands and other assets, and expect to realize a significant return on our extensive portfolio of owned and leased real estate. These assets include Innovel, which provides logistics solutions to businesses and consumers, Sears Home Services as well as Shop Your Way and financial services, and our Kenmore and DieHard brands. These businesses will also benefit from the recent acquisition by an affiliate of Transformco of Sears Hometown – a network of more than 400 independently-owned and operated, dealer-managed smaller-format stores that are known for offering customers a range of home products, including appliances, lawn & garden, tools and sporting goods,” company information added.