Sears Holding Corp. is pulling the plug on its Sears Essentials concept, which was a hybrid between Sears and Kmart stores.
The company had so far opened only one Sears Essentials store in Denver and about 50 nationwide. The Denver store at East Evans Avenue and South Monaco Parkway will eventually be converted to a Sears Grand store, although the company declined to say when the change will occur.
“We determined it wasn’t worth the incremental investment to carry three separate stores,” said Sears Holdings spokesman Chris Brathwaite.
The company will retool the stores but operate them under the Sears Grand name. Existing Sears Grand stores are twice the size of traditional Sears stores and offer a limited grocery section and products such as books, pet food, cleaning supplies, baby products and other items not usually found at Sears stores.
Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Holdings was created when Kmart Holding Corp. bought Sears, Roebuck & Co. for $12.3 billion and took on the Sears name. The company planned convert 400 Kmart stores to Sears Essentials. Instead, it decided the Sears Grand and Sears Essentials concept were too similar to justify different names, Brathwaite said.
“Any time you see a change like this, it’s an acknowledgement it didn’t live up to its expectations,” said Jon Schallert, president of the Schallert Group Inc., a Sorrento, Fla., retail consulting firm. “By changing the name they are trying to minimize and consolidate the damage to one brand and build on any equity in the Sears Grand name.”
So far, he said, the Sears Grand concept remains unproven.
Colorado’s only Sears Grand store opened last fall in Thornton’s Larkridge shopping center. The Sears Essentials store has been open since July. Prior to that, the store was a Kmart.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-820-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
