(Image courtesy of Searsmedia.com)Sears Grand is one of countless concepts rolled out by Sears Holdings, but one that had great potential. Back in 2003 the first Sears Grand store opened in West Jordan, Utah, followed by 4 other locations, including one in Las Vegas, NV. The Review Journal has an article about Sears Grand and the Las Vegas location. In the article Sears Vice President, speaking of the Sears Grand concept said "This offers us an off-mall growth opportunity." A few years later that opportunity turned out to be Kmart and the Sears Grand concept was all but abandoned.
(Photo Credit Unknown) West Jordan, Utah So here we are in 2009, Sears and Kmart are both struggling and still trying new concepts (mygofer anyone?) to little success. What if Sears would have went with Sears Grand and rolled it out nationwide? Would things be different for Sears Holdings today?
(Image Courtesy of Searsmedia.com) Unknown locationOne thing to remember is that the Sears Grand concept was developed and opened just before the Sears-Kmart merger. Sears Grand was the brain child of the then CEO of Sears. Once Kmart purchased Sears and Eddie Lampert began his rein of the companies, all previous concepts and ideas pretty much died in their current form. What Lampert did was a cheap remodel of some Kmart locations into Sears Essentials, Lampert later dumped the Essentials and renamed them all Sears Grand. Unfortunately those Sears Grands were just Kmart's with an expanded assortment of Sears items in a cheaply remodeled store.
(Image Courtesy of AP) West Jordan, UtahThe thing is the original Sears Grands were pretty much a hybrid of a Sears and Kmart store. They weren't a Kmart with a few Sears items thrown in though. They were a from-the-ground-up new store. Below you will find the Sears Grand Fact Sheet, that will give you an idea of what to expect at one of the few original locations.
Overview:
Sears Grand is a one-stop home and family solution center that delivers a mix of quality products such as Sears' proprietary and national brands that no other store provides. Everything busy people need to maintain their homes and keep their family on-the-go can conveniently be found here, under one roof.
Sears Grand is a one-level store that carries everything from milk to refrigerators, bathing suits to sun block and car seats to baby food. Sears Grand offers the best of what Sears is known for – appliances, lawn and garden supplies, electronics, tools, automotive products and services, sporting goods, apparel and hardware – with an innovative mix of convenience-inspired items - health and beauty products, greeting cards, dry grocery, pet food and magazines.
Brands/Products/Services:
Sears Grand offers a mix of quality brands that no other retailer offers, such as Kenmore, Craftsman, Lands’ End, Die Hard, as well as Nike, CoverGirl, GE, Levis, Sony, Carters, Huggies, Apostrophe, KitchenAid and more.
Sears Grand’s unique product and service offerings enable multi-tasking families to efficiently manage their busy lives and households. Sears Grand product categories include: apparel, appliances, lawn and garden, plant nursery (in some stores), sporting goods, toys, baby care, cleaning supplies, mattresses, home/seasonal décor, pantry items, pet food, cards and party supplies, books, magazines and electronics (TVs, CDs, DVDs, games).
Shoppers also will find an array of convenient services at Sears Grand including: an auto center, custom paint mixing, window blind cutting and key cutting.
Shopping Experience:
The Sears Grand concept was created based on what customers want and need. The one-level store is brightly lit with wide, uncluttered aisles and easy checkout lanes at the exit. A racetrack format combined with colorful, bilingual signage make it easy for customers to navigate the 165,000 to 210,000 sq. foot stores easily. Additionally, price verifiers throughout the store enable customers to easily identify the price on any product or call for assistance if needed.
To make the shopping experience even more convenient and fun, Sears Grand features shopping carts that have a kid-friendly racecar theme and are equipped with cup holders for mom and dad. The stores also feature convenient services and a café where busy families can grab a bite to eat.
Special thanks to Erica n Juan on Flickr for the three photos below. This is the Sears Grand in Austin, TX.
So there you have it- Sears Grand, a viable concept gone to waste?
What do you think, did Eddie Lampert make a mistake by not continuing the expansion of Sears Grand, or was it just another disposable concept?
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4 comments:
I vote for "disposable concept." Sears hasn't had the wherewithal to see anything through in decades.
I know I am late but that totally looked insane, personally it looks like an even cheaper quicker walmart and thats probably why it bombed, and maybe they wouldnt continue to drown in debt if they didnt like go crazy over credit cards because no one pays them off but thats just me
The original Sears Grand prototype was a viable concept, but Sears Essentials only dumbed down the concept to a cheaply remodeled Kmart.
Sears Essentials seems to have been born as a cheap way to acheive the conversion Kmart as well as an alternative format if the Kmart name proved to be too negatively associated with failure.
Eddie Lampert hasn't addressed problems such as out of stocks, outdated stores,and poorly located stores at Kmart, or price-value image at Sears.
If Sears Grand had been expanded to a national presence, Sears mall stores could have survived by becoming more soft lines oriented and slightly more upscale than the current Sears format. While this would place them back into direct competition with JCPenney as well as with Kohls, it would broaden Sears appeal to todays consumer. Sears Grand would then have a hard lines offering that Walmart and Target couldn't rival, with a more appealing store than Walmart and better price-value image than Target.
I actually worked for Sears at the original concept store in Jordan Landing. I agree completely that abandoning the project was about as idiotic a thing that they could do.
Not a peep of advertising went into marketing these stores except monthly ads --that probably confused customers unaware of the Grand concept-- that usually went unnoticed. Even though we were barely marketed, the store was a sustained success...that is, until the Kmart merger.
What I find confusing about the whole thing is that Kmart didn't "really" buy Sears...Kmart stores bought Sears Stores, in turn Sears Holdings bought Kmart holdings, so the bigger fish in the merger (obviously since Kmart had very little capital) was Sears. I think Alan Lacy, Teresa Byrd and all the other execs (many of whom I met, if not regularly) had a hell of a concept and Lampert just came in and turned it into a joke.
Personally, I think Lampert was too nostalgic about the Kmart brand and didn't want to rebadge it. However, Kmart has spent too many years in the trenches and cannot get away from the "ghetto" image. You'd have it much easier convincing consumers that Sears has become cost-effective and again chic than you would convincing them that you won't get mugged in the dark aisles of Kmart.
I say WAKE UP Lampert...you obviously haven't done your job. Oh yeah, and thank you for the near TOTAL loss on my 401k...with the quality name of Sears and the powerhouse of brands and infrastructure of Kmart, it's impossible to excuse your failure.
Push ahead with Sears Grand...make it the new face of Sears...you know that the mall anchors are dying, anyways.
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