Sears remodels with RTA at forefront - Sears, Roebuck and Co. remodels Mexican, American stores to feature ready-to-assemble furniture

Discount Store News, April 6, 1992

The evolution of the ready-to-assemble furniture category at Sears has been gradual, but RTA is emerging as a cornerstone of the entire furniture department, both domestically and in its Mexican test store.

The importance of the category can be seen both in the greater prominence RTA is given in the most current Sears remodelings and in the fact that - even when the furniture department as a whole is phased out for one reason or another - ready-to-assemble furniture invariably remains.

In the latest Sears Mexico test store, which is the first Sears in the United States or abroad with a traditional discount store format, RTA is at the core of the home decor area, surrounded by pre-assembled furniture, carpeting, housewares and domestics.

The manufacturers which supply U.S. Sears stores - Bush Industries, Jamestown, N.Y., and Sauder Woodworking, Archbold, Ohio - are also among those supplying the unit in Mexico. Even the upscale Sears department stores in Mexico - complete with the latest fashions and neon and marble interior - are merchandising RTA furniture.

While Sears officially "does not consider itself part of the discount industry," according to a spokesman at Chicago headquarters, a significant portion of its furniture business is in the discounter-born RTA category, offering Sauder and Bush - brands carried by an overwhelming majority of discounters.

Nonetheless, the category was described by Sears as "a key part of our business in both Homelife [freestanding furniture stores] and Sears' base stores. It is an integral part of our assortment. RTA is important enough that when we pull the furniture department out of a base store [because a Homelife shares the market or due to other market factors], we usually continue to merchandise RTA."

In one of its most current Sears remodelings in Paramus, N.J., the RTA category is no longer relegated to the back of the department, but heralds the furniture area at the top of the escalator. In the nearby Wayne, N.J., store, which is slated for remodeling in the upcoming months, an expanded RTA area of 1,500 sq. ft. became a reality when the customer services functions and other back room offices were reduced.

While the remodeling will require that the RTA department in the Wayne store be reduced to the chainwide average of about 800 sq. ft., it is expected that, as it was at the Paramus store, it will be given greater prominence in the furniture department overall. A white bedroom configuration from Sauder called Catalina was the best seller in the Wayne location, according to the department manager.

Sears in the United States currently operates 64 Homelife freestanding furniture and accessories stores with highest concentrations in markets such as Chicago, with eight stores, Detroit with six units, the St. Louis area, with four, and 20 throughout the state of California.

About 10 more Homelife locations are stated to open this year, most within the next month or two. None of the stores will be in new markets.

Homelife stores range in size from 22,000 sq. ft. to 40,000 sq. ft., with a different emphasis on RTA by market area.

Of the 868 Sears stores in the United States, 650 have full furniture departments, while RTA is available in nearly all stores. The furniture department in a typical Sears ranges in size from 7,000 sq. ft. to 8,000 sq. ft. The RTA category is about 10% of the department, and averages about 800 sq. ft.