Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores

History

Sears Holdings spun off Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores in 2012 to attempt to restore profitability and raise shareholder confidence. Sears Holdings spun off more than 1,100 Hometown and 122 outlet stores. Hometown stores are small hardware and appliance stores operated by independent retailers. Outlet stores sell Sears merchandise at discount. Outlet stores are approximately 18,000 square feet and equipped with items such as home appliances, lawn and garden equipment, apparel, mattresses, sporting goods and tools. Outlet stores sell discontinued, used, cosmetically blemished or reconditioned merchandise with new parts.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores partnered with the National Volunteer Fire Council in November 2013 to raise money for local fire departments. The objective of the campaign was to provide firehouses with funds to improve resources for training, equipment, and financial support.

Operations

As of January 28, 2017, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores and its dealers and franchisees operated 1,020 stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. Sears Hometown and Sears Outlet consisted of 944 Sears Hometown stores, 96 hardware stores, 76 home appliance showrooms and 143 Outlet stores in October 2012.

Sears Hometown Store

Sears Hometown stores are independently owned stores that sell Sears merchandise. In 2013, 70-80% of Hometown stores were independently owned. Formerly Sears Dealer Stores, they are a chain of smaller stores that operate as a store where the proprietor owns or leases the real estate while Sears Holdings handles the marketing and owns the inventory, and there are no franchising fees levied against the store proprietor. These stores are usually located in smaller markets that do not support full-sized Sears. They are signed as Sears and are usually free-standing or located in strip malls. They primarily concentrate on hardware, appliances and lawn-and-garden supplies. Most of Hometown Stores carry Sears brand products, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard, as well as a wide assortment of other national brands. Primarily independently owned and averaging 8,500 square feet, Hometown Stores are designed to serve customers within their local communities.

Sears Outlet Store

An outlet version of Sears department stores located in various retail locations across the U.S., as well as online. The stores sell appliances, apparel, mattresses, sporting goods, tools, and lawn and garden equipment. Sears Outlet provide with in-store and online access to new, one-of-a-kind, out-of-carton, discontinued, obsolete, used, reconditioned, overstocked, and scratch-and-dented merchandise at a discounted price (at twenty to sixty percent off regular retail price) Each store, on average, is larger than 18,000 square feet in size.

In 1968, Sears opened a surplus store in Kansas City. In 1994, the surplus stores were renamed to Sears Outlet. In 1995, Sears Outlet restructured in order to manage repairs and product distribution from a centralized location. To do this, they established a series of facilities known as Outlet Repair and Distribution Centers. In 2015, there were 22 of these centers in operation. In 2008, apparel was introduced to Sears Outlet stores and served as a liquidation outlet for Lands' End. In 2009, SearsOutlet.com was launched as an e-commerce platform allowing customers to purchase items online and in 2011, nationwide delivery was offered.

In 2012, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores was spun off from Sears Holdings. At the time of the separation, there were 122 Sears Outlet Stores in operation. As of February 1, 2014, Sears Outlet stores have expanded its operations to 143 locations. The majority of Sears Outlet stores are company-operated (115) and 28 Sears Outlet stores are locally owned and operated by franchisees. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores initiated a program to franchise Sears Outlet stores in 2012. In 2013, home appliances made up 78% of Sears Outlet's sales revenue and total revenue from Sears Outlet stores was $610 million. In 2014, Sears Outlet partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation to support children with life-threatening conditions.

Sears Home Appliance Showroom

Home appliance showrooms display merchandise in-stores. The stores have an internet kiosk where customers are able to view similar products, price match, and order products not available in the store.

Sears Appliance and Hardware Store

Sears appliance and hardware stores are hardware stores that carry the entire line of Sears hardware and appliances. As of April 2012, 96 stores were in operation. Hardware Stores, averaging nearly 28,000 square feet in size, are primarily located in suburban markets and are neighborhood stores designed to conveniently serve local customers.

Awards

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores received the Customer Engagement award from the online publication Retail TouchPoints for their interactive in-store campaign.