DALTON, Ga. — The Sears store in Walnut Square Mall will close in early September, a company spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

“Until then, the store will remain open for customers,” said Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications for Sears Holdings in an email. “The store will begin its liquidation sale on June 16. We have been strategically and aggressively evaluating our store space and productivity and have accelerated the closing of unprofitable stores as previously announced.”

Riefs said the number of employees who would be affected “is not publicly available.”

“Those associates that are eligible will receive severance and have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Sears or Kmart stores,” he said.

Sears Holdings also owns Kmart. A list published by the Business Insider website said Kmart stores in Calhoun and Fort Oglethorpe will also be closing.

Carl Campbell, executive director of the Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority, said the Sears closing is “disappointing” but not surprising.

“They’ve really got three footprints in our town (including the Kmart stores on Glenwood Avenue and West Walnut Avenue) and given the way their business has developed they are largely selling the same thing at all three stores,” he said.

“That’s too bad,” said Kelly Brennan, who was shopping at the Sears store Wednesday morning. “I’ve shopped at Sears all my life. I used to buy all my kids’ school clothes here.”

Mark Keyes said he wasn’t surprised by the closing.

“I knew something was up when they took all the TVs out,” he said.

Retail Dive, a website that covers the retail industry, says Sears Holdings will be closing some 250 Sears and Kmart stores this year.

“Sears has nearly halved its store footprint since 2012, from 2,019 then to fewer than 1,200 this year once all planned closures are made,” it reports.

Riefs said Dalton residents can continue to shop Sears through its website, sears.com, or its membership platform, shopyourway.com.

“We hope to retain a portion of the sales previously associated with this store by maintaining our relationships with the members who shopped this location. Our members and customers can also shop at our other Sears locations, which are listed at www.sears.com/stores.html,” he said.