(WTTW News)

Come fall, Sears will shut the doors on its last department store in Illinois, the state in which its first retail store opened in 1925. The Sears department store in the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg will close on Nov. 14.

(WTTW News)

Geoffrey Baer explores the past, present and future of a historic West Side garden in North Lawndale.

(WTTW News)

The bankrupt estate of Sears Holdings Corporation and the hedge fund division that bought the retailer’s troubled remains out of bankruptcy have been engaged in an ugly fight over the value of certain assets.

(WTTW News)

The layoffs at the retailer’s Hoffman Estates headquarters and at an office in San Francisco come just a week after Sears announced another wave of store closures 

Jan. 8, 2019, file photo of a Sears store in Hackensack, N.J. (AP Photo / Seth Wenig, File)

Sears Holdings Corp. is suing its former chairman and largest shareholder Eddie Lampert, alleging the billionaire stripped the once iconic company of more than $2 billion in assets.

Jan. 8, 2019, file photo of a Sears store in Hackensack, N.J. (AP Photo / Seth Wenig, File)

A bankruptcy judge has blessed a $5.2 billion plan by Sears chairman and biggest shareholder Eddie Lampert to keep the iconic business going. The approval means roughly 425 stores and 45,000 jobs will be preserved.

This Oct. 15, 2018 file photo shows a sign for a Sears Outlet department store is displayed in Norristown, Pa.  (AP Photo / Matt Rourke, File)

A group of Sears creditors are challenging Chairman Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund’s winning $5.2 billion bid to buy the business in a bankruptcy auction and wants to air their grievances in court.

This Oct. 15, 2018 file photo shows a sign for a Sears Outlet department store is displayed in Norristown, Pa.  (AP Photo / Matt Rourke, File)

Eddie Lampert, the hedge fund owner who steered Sears into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, is aiming to keep open roughly 400 stores and preserve tens of thousands of jobs.

Sears received another lifeline Tuesday when the company's chairman and largest shareholder promised to line up the necessary financing to keep the struggling department store chain afloat.

Eddie Lampert and his ESL Holdings hedge fund are offering to buy the rest of Sears for up to $4.6 billion in cash and stock.

Is it the end of an era? NPR reporter David Schaper joins us to discuss what the future may hold for the former retail giant.

The 225,000-square-foot Sears and Roebuck printing facility was once described as its own city within the city of Chicago, but it’s been closed for decades—until now.

Crain’s Chicago Business managing editor Ann Dwyer brings us the latest on a Peoples Gas settlement for misleading consumers, a new size strategy for Sears and an update on plans for a South Side trauma center.

Sears writes down the value of its trade name and the Sun-Times owner buys a stake in Tribune Publishing. We get the latest on these stories and more business headlines with Crain's Chicago Business deputy managing editor Ann Dwyer.

As electronics retailer RadioShack files for bankruptcy protection and stores like Sears and JCPenney look for ways to revamp their image, we discuss the challenges for major retailers with Crain’s Chicago Business retail reporter Brigid Sweeney.

Think of Chicago in 1893, and the World's Columbian Exposition comes to mind--with millions of visitors flooding the Midway to visit the White City. But 1893 was a seminal year for Chicago for at least a dozen other reasons, including something as seemingly insignificant as the debut of a new brand of chewing gum. Author Joseph Gustaitis joins us with stories from the year that changed Chicago forever. Read an article.