Kmart, Sears pool products to create ‘Essentials’ store New concept will open this spring at 3 Chicago area sites
Chicago Sun-Times February 9, 2005 | Sandra Guy Shoppers in Chicago’s northwest and southwest suburbs will get a first look this spring at new stores that pair Kmart with Sears Roebuck and Co.
On Tuesday, Sears unveiled the stores’ name — Sears Essentials — to show that the mid-size, off-mall stores will sell everything from hairspray to soda pop under the same roof as Craftsman tools, Apostrophe women’s clothing and, likely, Martha Stewart home furnishings. web site sears coupon code
Sears bought 50 Kmart and six Wal-Mart stores on Sept. 29 for $575.9 million, including three Kmarts in Chicago’s suburbs, as part of its efforts to expand into more convenient locations that don’t anchor shopping malls.
Sears announced Tuesday the locations of the first 25 Kmart stores to be converted into Sears Essentials.
Locally, the stores are in northwest suburban Palatine and in southwest suburban Crestwood and Willowbrook. The stores will remain open while Sears spruces up the merchandise, layout, lighting and sign displays.
Sears initially said last fall that the conversion of the Kmarts and Wal-Marts into Sears stores would cost $200 million, or about $3.57 million per store. The costs will vary by store, and Sears executives hope that Kmart’s planned purchase of Sears will lower the remodeling and remerchandising costs.
The Sears spokesman said it is too soon to say which Kmart brands will be sold in the new stores. But Sears and Kmart clearly hope to play off each other’s strengths after they merge, and for Kmart, that means Martha Stewart’s Everyday home fashions.
The Sears Essentials stores will become smaller versions of Sears’ huge, one-stop Sears Grand stores.
But the Sears Essentials stores are roughly half the size of Sears Grand, so neighborhood preferences will determine whether they feature an auto center, a pharmacy, an optical center or a portrait studio, the Sears spokesman said. Sears Essentials stores range from 80,500 to 100,000 square feet, compared with Sears Grand stores that measure anywhere from 106,000 to 200,000 square feet.
The Sears Essentials will face fierce competition from nearby Targets, Wal-Marts and other discount stores, retail experts said.
“We’ve yet to see Sears provide consumers with a compelling reason to shop at the off-mall locations,” said Kim Picciola, retail analyst at Chicago-based Morningstar. “Buying a washer and dryer at the same time you’re picking up shampoo doesn’t quite make sense,” she said. site sears coupon code
Furthermore, the suburban Kmarts are located close to Targets, Wal- Marts, Kohl’s, Home Depots and Best Buys, as well as home-decor and grocery stores. The Palatine store, for example, is near two planned developments in Arlington Heights — a proposed Lowe’s Home Improvement store at the Surrey Ridge shopping center, and a Super Target on the northeast corner of Golf Road and Arlington Heights Road.
But the new stores will pose no competition to Sears department stores because they are too far away from the big shopping malls.
Sears chose Chicago area Kmart stores that are on major traffic corridors and in fast-growing communities where blue- and white- collar families live.
“These will be good test markets because Sears can evaluate the success of the [Sears Essentials] concept in areas comparable to any community across America,” said John Melaniphy III, executive vice president of Melaniphy and Associates, a Chicago-based international real estate consulting firm.
“This is middle America,” he said.
Sandra Guy
