The holiday season didn't bring good tidings for Sears and Kmart this year: Slumping sales and low profit margins have the Sears Holdings Corporation planning to close 100 to 120 stores in 2012. The company runs more than 4,000 full-line and specialty retail stores in the United States and Canada.

Whether the downfall has anything to do with the widespread Boycott Kim petition (the Kardashian Kollection hit stores in August) is still up in the air. But either way, the balance sheet isn't looking so great.

At a time when other retailers are making a turn for the black and competitors are cutting into Sears' appliance sales (Lowe's, Home Depot) and Kmart's bargain prices (Target and Wal-Mart), Sears is reporting a dismal fourth quarter. The company anticipates earnings of less than half of last year's.

"This is a company that was making $3.6 billion in EBITDA four years ago," Credit Suisse retail analyst Gary Balter tells CNBC. "And if you look at [Sears Holdings'] numbers this year, they're going to do about $400 million."

In addition to the closures, Sears plans to implement more rigorous performance guidelines for its stores and "act opportunistically to recognize value from poor performing stores as circumstances allow."

"While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment," the company said in a statement. "We intend to accentuate our focus and resources to our better performing stores with the goal of converting their customer experience into a world-class integrated retail experience."

This approach seems to ignore, to some degree, the real problem:

"It begins and, some would argue, ends with Sears' reluctance to invest in stores and service, effectively asking customers to pay for a poorer shopping environment than available at competitors and online," Balter told the Wall Street Journal.

And it's true. The interior of the Sears at Memorial City Mall looks like it hasn't seen improvements since its opening in 1966; it could really use a little organization, a fresh coat of paint and new lighting. The historical location on Main Street is now shrouded with metal siding. There are a half-dozen more in the Houston area that could be similarly revamped.

Sears Holdings plans to release financial results in late February, and will post a list of stores slated for closure once final determinations are made.

Would you be sad to see Sears go?