Only a few employees left at Big Beaver and Coolidge location.
TROY -- Kmart is getting ready for a move by clearing out its former headquarters building.
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The company started a public sale of office equipment this week.
"We're going to stay there until at least December and until we find new office space," said Chris Brathwaite, a Sears Holdings spokesman. "Our plan is to find something as soon as possible."
Kmart acquired Sears, Roebuck & Co. last year and established the company's headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Just a few hundred employees work in the 1-million-square-foot building at the corner of Big Beaver Road and Coolidge Highway. Sears will not disclose the exact number. Thousands of employees used to work in the building before Kmart went through its downsizing and acquisition.
Items offered for sale included hundreds of chairs, tables, office supplies, commercial kitchen equipment and apparel, The Associated Press reported.
The company made the sale available to employees last week.
Sears sold the building and 40 acres to Madison Marquette, a Washington D.C.-based real estate company, in December. The agreement provides Sears a 12-month lease on the building with option rights to extend the time frame.
"They have a skeleton group there," said Ken Dalto, management consultant with Kenneth J. Dalto & Associates in Farmington Hills. "They're raising money to try to get every asset sold."
Holding a public sale of office equipment is unusual, he said. Usually, companies do it silently through an auctioneer. The sale might be a public relations stunt, he added, to show people the company is conservatively managing their assets.
"It's demeaning," he said. "It's like a garage sale to do it publicly rather than quietly."
While Sears has said it will keep a significant presence in Troy, analysts do not expect many corporate employees to remain here.