Sears puts the 'hardware' back in its Hardware stores

Home Channel News, August 7, 2000 by Brae Canlen

Its largest outlet includes first attached nursery

PHOENIXVILLE, PA. -- As soon as customers walk through the door of the new Sears Hardware here, they are faced with 7,000 nuts, screws, nails, bolts, spools of chains, ropes, cables, wires and other metal products. Off to the right is a prominent area where screen doors can be repaired or a piece of glass cut. Housewares are in the back, along with plastic storage and light fixtures. There's not a shower curtain in sight.

This is not your mother's hardware store.

The redesigned Sears Hardware has plenty of female-friendly features, including a wide assortment of wall treatments, an indoor nursery, and a drive-through area where customers can pick up bulkier items. But the 55,000-squarefoot store, which opened in this town near historic Valley Forge June 17. gets back to the basics of hardware.

"Customers have told us that the quality of a hardware store is based on how good the fastening section is," said Pat Recktenwald, vp-Sears Hardware Stores. "In this category, you can't afford not to have this breadth of assortment."

The fastener department, which in traditional Sears Hardware stores is 88 lineal feet, has been expanded to 240 feet. The space allotted to electricals and plumbing departments has been doubled. The image of product dominance is reinforced by the store's 72 feet of plumbing fittings, 12 feet of toilet seats, 65 ceiling fans and 25 riding mowers. In total, this store, which stocks 41,000 skus, is twice as big as an average Sears Hardware.

Pre-opening ads for the store, which emphasized lawn and garden products, lighting and pet supplies, used the tagline "More than you think of as Sears Hardware." Sears officials, who walked the sales floor with two NHCN reporters, pointed out some elements borrowed from Orchard Supply Hardware, the 81-unit California chain also owned by Sears. They also gave a glimpse of how Sears is moving to reinvigorate its 186 Sears Hardwares.

Current plans call for four new Sears Hardware units by the end of the year, the first of which opens in Newark, Del., this month. After that there will be stores in West Milford, N.J., along the New York state line; and Midland Park, N.J. The Newark and West Milford will be 55,000 square feet, while Midland Park will open in a 27,000-square-foot building. Plans for next year call for Sears Hardware stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Indianapolis.

A varied customer base

Phoenixville, where the 1958 horror classic "The Blob" was filmed, is a small town 30 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The housing stock ranges from brick row houses to homes costing $450,000 and up. "The demographics were what we were looking for," said Recktenwald, referring to the test status of the store. Sears Hardware's vp-general manager Mike Clark told NHCN that Phoenixville was seen as a challenging area. "It's not a home-run store," he observed. Platt added that the store had seen a lot of senior citizens as customers.

While local residents don't fit neatly into demographic boxes, the area appears to be underserved by home improvement retailers. There are no strong independents nearby, and the closest big boxes are two Home Depots, each a 15-minute drive. The Phoenixville Sears Hardware is sandwiched in between a supermarket and a mound of dirt destined to become a Kmart.

Bob Platt, a former regional manager for Sears, is now director of merchandising and project planner for the revamped Sears Hardware format. In keeping with the store's emphasis on a full assortment of hardlines, Platt has added marine accessories, mobile home parts, and automotive supplies. "People expect a Sears store to have a part for a lawnmower they bought nine years ago," said Platt, who seemed resigned to the idea of stocking some merchandise that turns only rarely.

The store's saving grace, where inventory management is concerned, could be the computer station at the customer-service desk that connects directly to Orgill. Staff members can place special orders for anything in the distributor's catalog.

The special-order desk also serves customers who want to rent a truck to haul home their purchases. (Sears is flirting with the idea of a fuller rental department within this format.) Commercial and pro sales are centered here. The lumber department is stocking the handy panels and shorter dimensional sticks that are most likely to be requested by the convenience shopper who is this store's primary customer. However, one also finds $30 framing hammers and pro packs of electricals within its mix.

A cornucopia of power tools -- including 92 feet of accessories -- is available at the Tool Territory department near the back right of the store. On the opposite side of the store is the paint department which includes the Dutch Boy and Martha Stewart Everyday brands, 250 books of wallpaper samples, small appliances, and an extensive selection of storage products.

Attached to the far left of the store is a year-round garden center and a 1,500square-foot nursery that are new to the Sears Hardware concept.