Sears Roebuck (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) has announced plans to purchase 18 former department stores and 10 freestanding auto centers from the bankrupt Montgomery Ward chain. Terms were not disclosed.
Sears'plans are to remodel and reopen the former Wards locations by the spring of 2002. Four of the stores will be converted to The Great Indoors and 14 to Sears stores, with Sears Auto Centers attached to three of these stores. The 10 freestanding former Wards Automotive Centers will be converted to Sears Auto Centers. The confirmed locations for conversions to Sears stores are at the Cottonwood Mall in Albuquerque, N.M.; Annapolis (Md.) Mall; Hartford Mall in Bel Air, Md.; Hulen Mall in Fort Worth, Texas; Arrowhead Mall in Glendale, Ariz.; Valley Mall in Hagerstown, Md.; Manassas (Va.) Mall; Meadville (Pa.) Mall; North Riverside (Ill.) Mall; Pueblo (Colo.) Mall; Arcadia Crossing in Phoenix; and two freestanding stores, on U.S. Highway 14 in Crystal Lake, Ill., and on 36th Street in Peru, Ill.
The four stores to be converted to The Great Indoors are in Oakridge Mall (San Jose, Calif.); Towson (Md.) Market Place; and in Huntington Beach, Calif., and Pleasant Hill, Calif.
“We now have an opportunity to build market share in several lines of our business,” said Sears chairman and ceo Alan Lacy. “We will have denser full-line store coverage in key markets and an early start on our 2002 growth plan for The Great Indoors.”