The search is under way at the Roseburg Valley Mall to replace Sears, a real estate agent said Tuesday. The store has anchored the shopping center since it opened 31 years ago.

Sears Holding Corp. has not named the stores it will close as part of a nationwide retrenchment, but Roseburg commercial broker Melony Hakola said she's negotiating with potential tenants with the expectation that Sears will leave the mall as early as April.

“I'm already marketing it,” she said.

The retail company, which owns more than 4,000 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide, announced Tuesday it will close 100 to 120 stores to minimize losses.

Messages left at the Roseburg Sears were not returned. A voice message at the Sears national media department told reporters, “Please do not leave a message.”

Sears said it will post a list of the stores closing at www.searsmedia.com.

Hakola, who handles all vacancies for the Roseburg Valley Mall, said she has been working with the mall owners Emmi Laudon and Wasselle Partnership of Alaska to fill the Sears space.

The prospect of Sears leaving didn't shock another mall tenant, The Camera Center owner Rick Ochs.

“It doesn't surprise me, but it is interesting,” Ochs said.

Ochs's business, along with Sears, Rite Aide (formerly PayLess) and Macy's (formerly the Bon Marché) has been at the mall since it opened in 1980.

Ochs said he expects Sears' departure will affect his and other mall businesses. The smaller businesses, like his, feed off the traffic created by the big stores' advertising power, he said.

“The mall is dependent on large merchants. But Macy's is the one who brings people into this mall,” Ochs said. “Obviously, Sears isn't doing real well. They're not bringing in the amount of people to the mall that they should be.”

He said the retail giant seems out of touch with today's younger shoppers.

“I remember when we were younger, and you always shopped at Sears. But now our kids don't shop there, and I don't even shop there anymore,” he said.

Sutherlin resident Mary Beam was at the mall Tuesday with her two great-grandchildren, Leona Goodin, 4, and Billy Key, 17 months. She said she would not be happy if Sears leaves.

“I think we need our Sears. I do like Sears. I always have, and I'm very sad and very upset. We need it,” she said.

Retired and raising her great-grandchildren, Beam said she doesn't have as much disposable income to shop at Sears, but she still favors Sears' clothing and its line of Craftsman tools.

“I used to shop there all the time, and I do shop there when there's something really nice,” she said.

Siblings Tommy Carse, 19, of Sutherlin and Tara Carse, 21, of Sonoma, Calif., were hanging out at the mall Tuesday afternoon. Both said they rarely shop at Sears and when they do, it's usually to buy gifts for older relatives.

“I bought a Shop-Vac at Sears once,” Tommy Carse said.

“Maybe for other people I would shop there, like for our grandma, or other people we know,” Tara Carse said.

Tommy Carse said Sears leaving might change the mall experience for him “maybe a little bit, because this mall is so small.”

Hakola said the space likely will be split to accommodate three stores because there has been a struggle to find one large tenant to fill the space.

She said she is negotiating with two businesses and said she expects fresh faces to revitalize the mall. She did not name the businesses.

“(Sears) had a good following as far as their automotive and lawn business, but in general I think it's going to be good for Roseburg to have some new energy and new business in there,” she said. “I think Sears has run its course in Roseburg.”

There was no word Tuesday on whether the Roseburg Kmart will stay or close. Store manager Dane Zahner said corporate officials were strict about directing media to the Sears media department and would not allow him to say anything to reporters.

• You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4218 or by email at dbixby@nrtoday.com.