ST. CLAIRVILLE — Sears at the Ohio Valley Mall is expected to close this summer, said Joe Bell, Cafaro Co. spokesman.

Bell said today while the Cafaro Co. has been preparing for years for a possible closure of the store, they were somewhat surprised to learn the news.

Initially Sears said the mall store would be among the “newly reconsituted Sears” and remain open moving forward, while others were going to be closed, he said.

“I think probably because of a new spate of lawsuits against Sears they decided to close a few more stores,” Bell said.

Read more details in Thursday’s edition of The Times Leader.