We’re trying our best to climb out of the economic downturn and have had some recent business recruitment successes courtesy of the Covington-Newton County Chamber of Commerce and other organizations.

However, seeing a longtime business shutter its doors and leave our area is a sobering reminder that more economic casualties likely lay ahead. The local Sears Hometown Store, a mom-and-pop-style take on the big box retailer is closing March 27, because of underperformance.

Sears Holding, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, is closing stores as part of a long-term survival plan. Thankfully, our Covington Kmart store has survived the first wave of closings, and we hope it lasts for many years to come.

Losing Sears will be hard for us in many ways. For one, we lose the infusion of local tax money; it’s always better for us to spend our money in Newton County. It’s also the end of a tradition that many of us remember as we grew up on Sears’ products. Believe it or not there are actually homes still existing in Covington that were ordered through the Sears catalog.

We’ll miss Sears, but we’re hope we’ll have more successes to celebrate in the near future.