Five Years After Last Sears Closed, Westland Mall's Future Remains Uncertain

Michigan's last full-line Sears department store shut its doors at Westland Shopping Center on Aug. 15, 2021, ending the chain's presence in the state and removing a longtime retail anchor from the heart of this working-class suburb.

Five years later, the mall's struggle to survive without its former anchors is raising urgent questions about jobs, tax revenue and the future of the retail corridor that has defined Westland for generations.

Westland Mall now stands approximately 35 percent occupied, with only 55 of its 120 store spaces filled. As of July 2026, JCPenney and Kohl's remain open as the mall's only anchors; Sears and Macy's no longer operate there.

The vacancies threaten more than the mall's remaining businesses and workers. Westland Shopping Center has been one of the city's top taxpayers, contributing more than $940,000 in taxes in a recent fiscal year. Its steep vacancy rate puts that revenue stream at risk at a time when the working-class community can least afford to lose it.

The mall's current owner, Namdar Realty Group, has put the distressed property back up for sale.

Sears' Westland closure was part of a nationwide collapse. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Oct. 15, 2018, after years of declining sales and store closures. At the time of the filing, about 700 Sears stores were still operating. By late 2025, the former retail giant had dwindled to only five stores nationwide, including two in Florida.

With the mall's future uncertain, Westland is working to reimagine the surrounding retail corridor. The city opened Nankin Square, a $12 million, 3.2-acre park and amphitheater on the former Service Merchandise site near the mall, with capacity for up to 4,000 people.

City leaders are also advancing a proposal for Westland to buy the struggling mall and redevelop the property into a more walkable destination. Multiple developers are exploring mixed-use concepts for the site, including residential units, offices and additional retail that would use Nankin Square as a central amenity.

Those plans could determine whether the former Sears property and the larger mall become a lasting retail void or the foundation of a new kind of community center — and whether the jobs, businesses and tax revenue tied to the site can be replaced as Westland moves beyond the era of the traditional department-store anchor.