NASHUA – The Sears Essentials store on Amherst Street will be closed as part of a corporate downsizing that will also shut a similar store in Keene.

The future of other New Hampshire Sears stores, including one in the Pheasant Lane Mall, is still up in the air. Sears Holdings announced 79 closings Thursday but has said that at least 100 of its 4,000 stores nationwide will be shut due to lower-than-expected Christmas sales.

On Thursday afternoon, the news made little impact at the Somerset Plaza Store.

About two dozen vehicles were in the parking lot in front of the store at 375 Amherst St.

Inside, a few shoppers were in the aisles, and most of the people near the cash registers seemed to be employees, who said they were instructed not to talk to reporters and referred questions to the corporate office in Illinois.

Outside, a few employees The Telegraph talked to said they did not know where they would be working after the store closed.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” said one man, who said he worked in the store’s loss prevention department and declined to give his name.

No Massachusetts stores were on the closing list announced Thursday. The company did not say exactly when the Nashua location would close.

Of the stores slated to close, 41 are Sears and 38 are Kmarts. Sears said it would post additional closings “as they become available.”

The Somerset Plaza store was a Kmart for years. It became a Sears Essentials in 2004 after Sears bought more than 50 Kmarts around the country and turned them into what it called “mid-sized format” stores as part of attempts to battle Walmart and other non-mall retailers.

At the time, the company said in a statement that “opening more doors in these strategically selected locations allows Sears to compete more effectively and operate in areas closer to the customer,” but the firm’s overall sales have stayed stagnant or lower than industry averages ever since.

It’s not the only retailer struggling in this economy, however.

In Boston, Filene’s Basement shut its doors Thursday after more than a century in business, and earlier this year, Building 19 shut its Nashua location on Amherst Street.

Still, business news isn’t all bad on Amherst Street. Chipotle Mexican Grill will open next year at 356 Amherst St., and Nature’s Green Grocer of Peterborough is opening an organic grocery at 348 Amherst St.

Sears also has a repair center in Hudson, as well as stores at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester and Rockingham Park in Salem.

Kmart has a store in Salem.

The closings were prompted by weak holiday sales. Sears Holdings said Tuesday that sales at stores that had been open at least a year fell 5.2 percent over the eight weeks leading to Christmas Day.

The numbers were especially telling because the national retailers association reported an increase in pre-Christmas sales for many stores, although that boost was fueled by dollar stores and other cut-rate retailers.

Sears Holdings also said it will reduce inventory in open stores by $300 million.

The company estimates the closings will generate between $140 million to $170 million in cash as the inventory of the closed stores is sold off, and additional cash from the sale or sublease of the real estate.

Staff writer Kathy Cleveland contributed to this story. David Brooks can be reached at 594-6531 or dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com.