Farewell, Sears

January 15, 2025

I’m a little late to the news, but apparently the Sears headquarters (at Hoffman Estates) has been torn down.

I got to visit the building a few times, though I think I only documented one of my visits. To say the place was massive is… an understatement. Inside the complex (and it was a complex), there was a coffee shop, restaurant, beauty salon, travel agency – a ton of actual shops.

It’s hard for me to fathom that someone decided to just… tear the whole thing down. I get that the land itself has value, but to simply destroy all those buildings and structures to start anew? That seems incredibly wasteful.

Here’s a fun video of some urban explorers, wandering around the empty buildings (prior to the demo):