Sears Holdings Corp. has filed paperwork to spin off its smaller Hometown and Outlet stores as well as some hardware stores into a separate publicly traded company.  Sears, which also runs Kmart, had announced the separation plans in February.

The company, which is trying to turn around its business and spruce up its image, said in a regulatory filing on Monday that it had a total of 1,224 Hometown, Outlet and hardware stores currently. 

Sears says the move should not directly affect the Sears or Kmart stores in Forsyth and Decatur.