(TNS) -FRACKVILLE -- Kmart at the Schuylkill Mall in Frackville will close later this year.

Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications for Sears Holdings, said in an email today Kmart store at the mall will close. Employees were notified Tuesday morning of the closure, he said.

"We did not renew the lease for the Kmart store in the Schuylkill Mall and the store will close to the public in mid-October. Until then, the store will remain open for customers. The store will begin its liquidation sale on July 19. ...These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail -- at the store, online and in the home. Our investments in Shop Your Way and Integrated Retail enable us to migrate the shopping activity of highly engaged members who previously shopped these closed stores to alternative channels. As a result, we hope to retain a portion of the sales previously associated with these stores by nurturing and maintaining our relationships with the members that shopped these locations," Reifs said.

The store, which opened in October 1980, has approximately 80 employees. Those associates that are eligible will receive severance and have the opportunity to apply for open positions at area Sears or Kmart stores. Most of the associates are part time or hourly, Riefs said in an email.

Elaine Maneval, mall manager, said she was notified Tuesday of the closure. She said the lease for the 90,213-square-foot space expires in October. With the closure of Kmart, all the original anchor stores will have left the mall, Maneval said. Sears and Hess were the other two original anchor stores, she said.

"We have valued Kmart as a tenant at the Schuylkill Mall for many years, and are obviously disappointed that they will not be extending their lease at the end of its current term. Candidly, this is not a big surprise, as Kmart and Sears have been realigning their corporate strategy, and as a company, now operates fewer than half the stores that existed (3,500) when the companies merged, with approximately 200 stores closing in 2014. In anticipation of this potential closure, the landlord engaged CBRE/FAMECO to pursue replacement tenant (or tenants) in the event Kmart did not extend their lease, effectively trying to get in front of the decision proactively, rather than reacting to the official notice provided today. This is also our first notice that Kmart has formally decided to close their store at the Schuylkill Mall," Maneval said.

Some of the shoppers at the mall were surprised by the news.

Debra Stravinsky, Zion Grove, was in the mall Tuesday and said she will miss Kmart, which she did not know was closing.

"Here, make a wish that Kmart changes their mind," she said as she gave change to her grandson, Tanner Quinn, 5, to toss into the fountain outside of the store.

Stravinsky visits the store about three times a week with her grandsons, Tanner and Evan Quinn, both of Ringtown.

The store is always full of shoppers, she said.

"I'm going to miss Kmart a lot," she said, adding the convenience the store provides by buying a lot of every day items there.

When asked what she would like to move into the space, she said, "a mini Target."

Dawn Collins, Saint Clair, also said she will miss the store that she visits "probably once a week."

She said the employees did not say anything to her when she purchased summer clothing for her children at the store, but she found out later from someone at Deb Shops. Collins said she would like the space to be used as a clothing store.

Betty Guziewicz, 73, of Frackville, purchased some dog treats at Kmart and a DVD for her great-granddaughter. She no longer shops at the store often but did when her three children were younger.

"People are going to miss this store, especially if you have kids," she said.

Sears store and Sears auto center also closed at the mall Jan. 18. The company announced in October 2014 it would close as part of an effort to "reduce expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model," Riefs said in an email.

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