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Sears has big plans for some small stores.
If a pilot program goes well, then Sears Holdings Corp. will add a store format that is much smaller than its stores have been in the past, according to an article from Reuters.
Currently, the average Sears store is 138,000 square feet. The first pilot store in the smaller format, which is slated to open this week in Colorado, will be 10,000 square feet and will specialize in home appliances. The appliance selection will be similar to what typical Sears department stores now carry.
The initial location will offer other features, such as the opportunity for customers to make appointments with appliance experts, and a pickup system that will allow customers to have purchases they made online delivered to their cars, the Reuters article says.
The retailer is working on making a comeback after losing more than $8 billion over the past five years and closing hundreds of stores.
“Obviously we want to move the needle,” Leena Munjal, senior vice president of customer experience and integrated retail, told Reuters. “This is very much a quick, scalable model.”
Other small-format stores may focus on categories besides appliances, Munjal says.
Sears has made a variety of changes to improve its business model, and testing out the smaller store format is the newest effort, Reuters reports.
