2022: 10 Kmart, 23 Sears stores remain...

[HAMMER77777]

In addition to H&L stores (Anchorage, Lafayette, Overland Park), Pharr, Ft. Collins, Camp Hill, Honolulu are Appliances & Mattresses stores.
Westland, Media, and Massapequa closed last year
* outdoor center

Well full line means the store still has all departments represented... even if they are all shadows of what they once were.

So I am confused what is an Appliance & Mattress Store vs. what is a Home and Life Store. I guess either are corporate operated. I am surprised they do not also feature rugs.

Then the Hometown Store which can be either dealer operated or Corporate operated, I guess the idea with those is to try and open them as Corporate then find a dealer to buy them.

I read this on the layoff site and just had to share it: I think you forgot Sears Mattress store (another oddly specific store). I'm waiting for some more specific Sears stores. Sears Furniture Store would be too vague. How about Sears Chairs Store, Sears Table Store, Sears Sofa Store, Sears Recliner Store, Sears End Table Store, Sears Coffee Table Store, Sears Socks Store, Sears TV Stand Store, Etc.?

Or if those are not specific enough, perhaps Sears 10 Foot 7 Inches, Long Sofa Store? Or Sears Blue Vinyl Recliner With Stripes Store? Or Sears Navy Blue Recliner With Pink Stripes And Cupholder Store? Or Sears Navy Blue Recliner With Pink Stripes And Cupholder With Velour Store? Hey I can make the names as specific as you want. Let's do "Sears Shirts For People Who Are Exactly 5' 11", & Weight 196.432 Pounds Store", which would of course be different from "Sears Shirts For People Who Are Exactly 5' 10", & Weight 198.327 Pounds Store".

Of course I'm being silly, but I'm also half jokingly mocking them for having all these d-mb, bizarrely specific store concepts. I mean, we can play Scrabble here. How many different combinations can you make from the words 1. Appliances, 2. Hardware, & 3. Mattresses.

Let's see, I haven't been in math class for Years, but off the top of my head,

Sears Appliances
Sears Hardware
Sears Mattresses
Sears Appliances & Hardware
Sears Hardware & Mattresses
Sears Appliance & Mattresses
Sears Appliances, Hardware, and Mattresses.
Did I miss any? OK, since I'm being goofy, I'll randomly throw in:

Sears Appliances, Hardware, and Mattresses for people who are between 5'10" and 6' 1.5" tall, and who weight between 197.56 and 212.358 Pounds Store.
OK that's enough. I made enough fun of Sears idiotic store concepts already haha.

[storewanderer]

OK that's enough. I made enough fun of Sears idi0tic store concepts already haha.

Sears Driving School is now Official Driving School.
https://searsdrivingmi.com/

[storewanderer]

We have a new format- yes- this outfit came up with a new format. They opened something called a Sears Hometown PLUS in a closed Kmart in Cudahy, WI.

Assuming this is corporate owned otherwise expect we would see a press release or something about the "local owner."

I see what look like aisles with groceries on them. Definitely see soda and paper towels. Soda- so they have vendors coming in? Maybe that is cleaning stuff and not soda. So did they dispatch C&S again for this thing?

The Kmart closed in 2019. It served as a COVID Vaccine site run by some other entity for a while. While it served as a COVID Vaccine site there was a white tarp over the Big Kmart sign. The COVID Vaccine site closed recently. Sears decided to move in with this Sears Hometown PLUS Store (they had to finally take down the Kmart sign to do this). I'm not clear if Sears actually put a sign up, or just took down the Kmart sign...

Why not throw some racks of clothing in there too? There is plenty of space. Wait, then you'd have something that resembled the Kmart that closed...?

https://www.facebook.com/SearsHTSCudahyWI

[Romr123]

...at least the graphic design is good!

[storewanderer]

...at least the graphic design is good!

It looks the same as when they had hundreds of stores...

I wonder how many other Kmarts they will reopen...

This Cudahy, WI unit is also the closest place to Chicago where Sears is selling appliances. Unreal to think they abandoned their home market.

They do give off the vibe they want to continue in the business of selling appliances...

[submariner]

Assuming this is corporate owned otherwise expect we would see a press release or something about the "local owner."

The Facebook site links to the SHT site, I believe this is not corporate, but likely a new Hometown format.

[storewanderer]

Assuming this is corporate owned otherwise expect we would see a press release or something about the "local owner."

The Facebook site links to the SHT site, I believe this is not corporate, but likely a new Hometown format.

Corporate is operating a number of Hometown Stores at this time. They have in some cases opened Hometown Stores up in markets where Sears closed in hopes of building the business and then selling the store to a dealer. In other cases they have taken over Hometown Stores that franchisees were walking from in an effort to keep them operating (they did this to one in my area a few years ago right around the time of the bankruptcy, and it was closed within a few months; now I notice there are 3 more of these in my area); that is called a "transition store".

Historically they did not include the "transition stores" in their corporate operated hometown store count but did include the handfull of Hometown Stores that they were running as corporate stores on an ongoing basis.

My suspicion is if you go to the Sears Hometown website and look at the jobs function- any store listed there, is a Corporate operation (some are labeled as transition, some are not). Somewhat dubious given the first thing every job posting says is how the locations are locally owned...

[mbz321]

We have a new format- yes- this outfit came up with a new format. They opened something called a Sears Hometown PLUS in a closed Kmart in Cudahy, WI.

I guess they didn't want to try their luck using the 'Sears Essentials' brand again

[SamSpade]

Philly Inquirer's story is getting a lot of news feed play -
Kmart is down to its last 4 stores in the US
Two of which are in New Jersey. Someone posted a photo series to facebook of a well-merchandised store. Strange things continue to be afoot...
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/202 ... he-us.html

[pseudo3d]

There is a well-merchandised, 24-hour Kmart...in Guam. I suspect someone else may be in charge of most of the merchandising there.

As for the fate of the final four mainland stores, at this point, they may as well transition to Sears Hometown Plus...