Leominster

The Auburn Mall Sears and The Mall at Whitney Field Sears in Leominster will be closed by February of next year as Sears, now owned by Illinois holding company Transformco, sheds over 40% of its Sears and Kmart locations around the country.

Olympia Sports has begun the closing sales of 76 stores with $44 million in inventory, including five in Central Massachusetts, as the acquisition of the Maine company by sports retailer JackRabbit moves forward.

Fidelity Bank Chief LifeDesign Officer Sherri Pitcher is focused on culture and customer engagement.

Chroma Color Corporation has completed a $1 million investment at its flagship Leominster site that will take on the work previously being done at its Clinton site.

Five towns central Massachusetts towns hit hard by foreclosures after the 2008 recession stand to benefit from a multi-agency program that aims to rehab blighted properties, incorporating energy efficiency measures, and to sell the newly-efficient homes to low- and moderate-income families.

A Leominster office building recently vacated by Worcester healthcare provider Reliant Medical Group has sold for $2.2 million.

Federal labor officials have asked a federal court to hold two Central Massachusetts companies in contempt for not fulfilling the terms of a 2016 settlement to pay back more than $2.3 million in wages

Dressbarn is the latest retail casualty, and the company's seven Central Massachusetts locations will add to the latest storefronts to close across the area.

Hospitals in Worcester, Clinton, Framingham, Gardner and Milford have received the highest patient safety ratings in the newest report from a nonprofit hospital group.

Fidelity Bank's assets grew by 14% last year, landing it in what the Leominster bank says is in the top one-tenth nationally in growth rates.