If you’ve saved up a stash of Shop Your Way Rewards points at Sears or Kmart, now might be a good time to start using them.

Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly before 1am Monday. The company plans to sell “a large portion of the Company’s store base” while it begins store closing sales at 142 other as-yet unidentified “unprofitable stores”.

“The Company expects to move through the restructuring process as expeditiously as possible and is committed to pursuing a plan of reorganization in the very near term,” Sears said in a statement shortly after the filing. “The Company intends to continue payment of employee wages and benefits, honor member programs, and pay vendors and suppliers” through the bankruptcy process – assuming it manages to come out of the process intact.

The entire article here.