Sears store at University Park Mall up for auction

Sears Holdings is offering several locations for sale in an online auction, including the University Park Mall location, according to Business Insider and RealInsight Marketplace.

Sears stores in Merrillville and Indianapolis in Indiana and Novi, Michigan are also up for auction. A total of 16 stores are up for auction.

Buyers have an option to lease the property back to Sears, which would keep the store open.

Officials at Sears released the following statement:

"We are pursuing a sale/leaseback of the Sears store. The store will then be leased by Sears (instead of owned) and remain open to the public. Over the last 18 months, the company has executed a series of real estate transactions where we sell owned stores and the stores go on leases, and continue their operation"

The spokesperson added that this is all in an effort to increase profits and reduce costs.