CENTER TWP — The Clearview Mall will lose another major retailer this summer. Sears will close in July.

The closure marks the third anchor store to leave the shopping center in two years.

The Bon Ton left in October 2014 after having been a mall mainstay since 1982. Late last year Dick’s Sporting Goods moved from the mall to a new location on New Castle Road in Butler Township.

“It’s been a great store,” said Justin Hartzler, a four-year Sears employee who works in the lawn and garden department. “Sears is also a very good company. I’m really sorry to see it go. Hopefully I can find another retailer that will hire me, but I have experience here so hopefully that pays off.”

Hartzler wasn’t taken aback by the news.

“It’s been going around for a while, so I’m not surprised,” he said. “I’m still sad to hear it.”

As Hartzler said it has been known that Sears was closing stores. In February, the company announced it would close 50 more stores nationwide. That followed hundreds of store closings in the past few years.

In a news release Thursday, Sears Holdings announced that it would close 10 Sears stores and 68 Kmarts this summer, in a move the company’s chairman and CEO Edward Lampert called necessary to “restore Sears Holdings to profitability.”

In the fourth quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season, revenue fell 6.9 percent at Sears, and 7.2 percent at Kmart. The company had its fourth-quarter loss widen to $580 million, from a $159 million loss a year ago.

Sears declined to say how many workers nationally will be affected by the closures, but it said that an overwhelming majority are part-time. Eligible associates will receive severance and will have the chance to apply for open positions at other Sears or Kmart stores.

All of the targeted Sears stores will close in late July. Liquidation sales will start April 29.

The Clearview Mall store is one of two Sears in Pennsylvania that will close. The other is in New Castle.

The company also announced that six Pennsylvania-based Kmart stores would close, but Butler’s Kmart will remain open.

At the Clearview Mall, Sears and the former Hills Department Store were the two anchor stores that were part of the mall’s grand opening on Oct. 12, 1981.

On Thursday several customers expressed disappointment at Sears’ closing.

“I’ll probably miss it because I shop here often,” said Linda Koebler, of Butler. “It’s a shame. You get better quality of stuff here.”

Pat Christie of Butler wasn’t happy about it either.

“There’s not going to be anything left in this mall,” she said. “My husband gets his tools here. I like shopping here.”

Elaine Atkinson of Meridian worried about the impact the closing would have on the local economy.

“I hate to see it close the doors,” she said. “It’s just another business leaving the area which isn’t good for the economy. This is a great place for tools and appliances.”

The mall, which is owned by J.J. Gumberg Co., has more than 60 stores but has lost several businesses since 2014. That year the mall lost the Clearview Mall Cinemas and The Asian Buffet, which had been one of its largest restaurants.

The mall in August replaced The Bon Ton with Illinois-based farm supply store Rural King.

Mall officials have said they have a replacement for Dick’s, but they haven’t said what that is.

The mall also added the Mexican restaurant Compadres this year to its list of tenants.

Remaining anchor stores are Boscov’s, J.C. Penney and T.J. Maxx along with Rural King.

Mall owners said they are talking to replacement tenants for Sears.

The closing of Sears is another recent blow to retail shopping in Butler County. Trader Horn, which had operated a number of stores throughout the region for decades, is also closing.