Sears sets 5 Grand pilot stores
Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, May 19, 2003
Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Home fashions, including bedding and rugs, will be sold in the big off-the-mall stores Sears will begin testing this fall.
The retailer plans five Sears Grand pilot stores, with the first scheduled to open in West Jordan, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. A second store will open in Gurney, Ill., next year. All will be one level.
The Sears Grand stores will be considerably larger than current Sears mall units. Average selling space for current Sears stores is 90,000 to 95,000 square feet, according to Linda Blakeley, a Sears spokeswoman. The new stores will have 155,000 square feet of selling space in a total of 210,000 square feet.
The company has been studying the potential of off-the-mall, full-line stores for some time, she said.
New merchandise categories will be part of the Sears Grand format, including toys, plants and fertilizers, beauty products, dry groceries and greeting cards, among others.
"We have improved our full-line stores to the point where current consumer trends need to be served," Blakeley said. "The new stores will enable us to provide everyday solutions to consumer product needs."
Sears dropped ready-to-assemble furniture from its mall stores last year.
