Sears debuts Essentials concept

DSN Retailing Today, May 23, 2005 by Mike Duff

WARRENTON, VA. -- At the debut earlier this month of the new Sears Essentials store, a format whose very inception was the result of last year's historic merger between Kmart and Sears, store planners succeeded in conveying at least one clear message: The new Sears prototype is not just a Kmart store dressed up with Craftsman and Kenmore.

The new 97,000-square-foot Essentials store, which was one of five to open along the East Coast on May 14 (with 33 more to open nationally by the end of August), is designed to reacquaint former catalog shoppers with Sears and to drive shoppers to Sears' mall-based stores, its Web site and its credit operations. And equally as important, the new store, which is housed in a former Kmart unit, will give loyal Kmart customers new merchandise options in the same space.

John Lipp, the manager of the inaugural Sears Essentials store, said that converting the building from one format to the other never fully interrupted business. And he ought to know, having been manager of the Kmart for most of the past decade. To reassure Kmart customers of continuity, the pharmacy, health and and pantry sections remained open throughout. Other store sections were divided off by plastic, reworked and reopened during the 12-week renovation.

In another move bound to reassure Kmart customers, prices of merchandise that continue from one banner to the other were reviewed competitively and kept at the same level or, in some eases, reduced, Lipp noted.

In housewares, toys and, especially, sporting goods, Kmart SKUs were paired down, but mostly by eliminating slower-selling items rather than by eliminating segments or familiar national brands. The result is more space for key Sears businesses. Just to the right of Essential's entrance, pantry and some other areas have been sealed back to add riding mowers and other formerly unknown categories to the lawn and garden department. An adjacent addition, found along the side wall, houses the tools section, including a selection of power tools and tool sets selling for several hundred dollars.

Across from the Craftsman-dominated tools department, Essentials offered mattresses, a business that results from consumer demand at Sears Grand, said company spokeswoman Corrine Godovic. Grand stores initially lacked mattresses, and consumers complained, which lead to their introduction there and at Essentials.

Godovic pointed out, though, that Sears will weigh big-ticket items at each Essentials location for relevance. So, for example, riding mowers won't be a priority in urban stores. With mattresses, it's a space issue. "When we have the space, we'll include mattresses," she said.

In the back corner of the store, both toys and sporting goods shrunk so Sears could add fitness machines in the same abundance as at mainline Sears stores. The rear wall backed appliances with the full-line Sears range of washers, dryers and dishwashers available and a limited but significant selection of refrigerators.

Sears cross merchandised big-ticket items like washers with consumables like Tide to present stores as a total shopping solution. Adjacent to the washers was Ty Pennington bedding, part of the new propriety housewares line. No Martha, yet.

Electronics moved from the front to the other back corner in the conversion, but the layout creates clear sight lines to draw consumers from the store entrance.

Major brands found throughout the store are trumpeted by conspicuous signage mounted on the walls. Except for Craftsman, Kenmore and Ty, Sears took a relatively low-key approach to sales-floor brand signage, even for Lands' End. But that didn't stop the brand, Lipp said, from being the biggest softlines seller during the store's soft opening.

Lipp added that demand for big-ticket items surprised him, and he made multiple sales of refrigerators and riding mowers as soon as the departments were open. Crafts-man was in demand, too. "They really wanted those tools," Lipp said.