Wisconsin-based retail chain Shopko Stores plans to close its remaining stores by mid-June, including eight in Nebraska.
Shopko said Monday the company was unable to find a buyer for its business and plans to begin winding down its retail operations this week.
WLUK-TV those closings will affect an additional 5,000 employees.
Shopko says it will not move forward with an auction that was scheduled Tuesday. The liquidation is expected to take 10-12 weeks.
The retailer, headquartered near Green Bay, for bankruptcy protection in January, citing excessive debt and ongoing competitive pressure, and began announcing store closings. It had planned to close around 250 stores and keep 120 open.
CEO Russ Steinhorst said in a statement "this is not the outcome that we had hoped for when we started our restructuring efforts."
Shopko, which began with a store in Green Bay in 1962, at one point had dozens of store locations in Nebraska, including four in Lincoln.
The Lincoln store at 3400 N. 27th St. closed for good Saturday. The other three Lincoln locations are scheduled to close next month.
Several other Nebraska locations are scheduled to close in May.
The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported that the company will continue to evaluate options for its optical business. Shopko had originally hoped to spin the business into standalone locations as part of its reorganization. It filed business permits last month for two standalone optical locations in Lincoln.
The optical business now becomes one of the company's assets it will look to sell through the liquidation effort.
Lincoln stores that have closed or are slated to close