Another big box staple has announced it is closing its final store in New Jersey.

Sears, an all-purpose department store, is closing its Jersey City location at Newport Centre, signaling the end of the mall era for many generations of shoppers.

"It's not a good thing. It loses that luster of going to the store finding the options Finding the good deals, so yeah, I will miss that," Vaibhav, a Sears shopper said.

Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy back in 2018, closing stores nationwide over the last few years. Sears was the largest retail company in the country with 4,000 stores. Now only 12, soon to be 11, Sears stores remain in the U.S.

A real estate expert said that brick-and-mortar stores were already struggling as online shopping expanded, but the pandemic sealed the deal.

"Since COVID, it has been a retail apocalypse for big box stores," the real estate expert, Richard, said. "A lot of these stores, they just can't handle it. The real estate, the taxing the rent. It's not efficient for these companies."

One of the last Kmarts in the country shut down in August. Many other large retailers continue to downsize and move to online markets.

Sears does have an online shopping site, but the in-person store closing sale is at its Newport Centre location with everything being advertised for 25% to 70% off.

It was not immediately clear when the store would close for good.