Iconic U.S. retailer Sears has been a “walking zombie” for a long time, and is unlikely to survive after filing for bankruptcy, says the former CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company.

When asked if Sears can make a turnaround, Gerald Storch, now the founder and CEO of Storch Advisors, said “no, dream on,” and that it was only a matter of time before the company “vanished instantly.”

“It’s been a walking zombie for a long, long time… If you look at it today, Sears and Kmart combined are about 3 per cent the size of Walmart,” Storch told BNN Bloomberg in an interview on Monday. “There’s very little left. They’re going to close another 20 per cent of the stores immediately with more to come under any restructuring plan.”

After filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. on Monday, Sears said it will close 142 unprofitable stores by the end of this year. Its Canadian unit closed its stores in January.

Storch said the retailer has already missed its shot at preventing its demise.

“Sears has been declining for decades, so this didn’t happen overnight. The ultra-high leverage combined with a rapidly evolving retail environment spelt the death knell for Sears like it has with so many other retailers,” Storch said. “If you really go back even to 1962 - that was the year Kmart, Target and Walmart started - and that was really the first blow that Sears took.”

“And, then as we move forward 30 years later you had the internet, and the combination of the discount chain offering true value and the internet was just too much,” he added.

‘More bankruptcies’ to come

Storch said it is rising wages and competitive pressures that will result in more bankruptcies among big retailers “on the brink.”

“We just saw Amazon going to $15 an hour in the U.S. It’s going to put further pressure on retailers that are already a little bit shaky,” Storch said. “There are number of other retailers that are posting increasingly disappointing numbers.”

Storch pointed to U.S. department store chain J.C. Penney (JCP.N), saying that Sears' bankruptcy is not good news for its competitor.

“I don’t think there’s very much good news in order for J.C. Penney. They may well follow them [Sears] in the not so distant future, if they don’t see a significant improvement in their performance,” Storch said.