So did we visit a Sears store in 2023 the answer is yes, well kinda. While this is not your typical Sears department store, it is a Sears concept store that only had four locations. Anchorage Alaska (2019), Overland Park Kansas (2019), Pharr Texas (2017), and Lafayette Louisiana (2019) where we are at today. According to their statement when the 2019 stores opened, the stores were designed based on the feedback from the Pharr store. This store is probably around 15,000 square feet of retail space, much smaller than their average department store. It is basically a larger version of the Hometown stores with some extras. The store is also reminiscent of their outlet stores with an open floor warehouse look with minimal decorations.
As you can see this shopping center has a lot of prime retailers and restaurants. In 2023 the Sears sign looks out of place, but I was very happy to see it.
The front checkout counter and entryway to the store.
After entering the store, my attention is drawn past the front counter to this tool display photo on the right. In typical Sears fashion, the photos no longer match the product selection below.
There are a few tools on this wall, but the majority of the tool sets and pieces are actually towards the back middle of the store.
There was an excess amount of garage door opener motor sets with two available pallets.
A couple of display toolboxes with the rest on the floor in cardboard boxes.
Their repair station just behind the front counter is filled with odds and ends as well. Some of the boxes had sold stickers and were waiting on pickup. You can also see one of the few TV's with Sears promotional ads that was on.
The Smart Home concept is here but the display is pretty empty.
The Home Services counter also had Smart Home electronics.
A wide view of the appliance area of the store.
The stickers were slightly peeling off. Be anazing!
Looking from the center of the left side of the store to the front.
The same area facing the front center and right side of the store.
Now for a wide view of the store from back (left side) to the front (right side).
There is a good bit of space in between the display models. Some of the space is filled by boxed appliances that are ready to go.
A better view of the middle area of the store.
More boxed appliances crowded up this nearly empty tool aisle. You can see right up to the front entryway.
One of the tool aisles next to the appliance boxes was down to just a few light sets.
A few water filters and appliance repair parts in the back center of the store. A few microwaves are also in view at the bottom right.
And a row of more display refrigerators just to the left.
A sad end cap in the back of the second tool area.
And this end cap on the next aisle is just as empty.
Now for the best area of the second tool department.
Yeah, definitely not what we are used to seeing in a Sears tool department. I was unsure if they were consolidating the tools into one area of if they were just setup like this. Having the tools in two separate areas of the store, even though they are close to each other, may confuse some shoppers.
Now for more of the back wall. Lots of variety here.
The back right side of the store. More products including vacuum cleaners, accessories, and mattresses.
A huge chunk of the store is filled up with mattress displays.
A few boxed appliances made their way to this corner of the store.
Looking from the right back corner of the store to the front entryway.
Same view with a closer zoom.
The first tool area on the right side of the store.
Here are the two pallets of garage door opener motor sets. One this first one the boxes are looking faded. I wonder if these came from any of the Sears stores that closed in Louisiana or Hometown stores.
A random display in the middle of the tool department.
More of the tool selection in the first tool department.
A look at the middle back section of the store with the second tool department in the middle of the view.
Center of the store. Left is the front of the store, right is the back of the store.
I didn't manage to get a good picture of the loose tool aisle, but you can see it here to the left of the photo. There wasn't a lot to see.
The end caps on the second tool department.
A few of these aisle cards were seen in the department stores, but these are not faded.
Back to the front of the store. This is the Smart Home counter from earlier, partially blocked by these shelves.
This Smart Home setup looks really nice. I wonder if you could get all of the things here on Sears.com.
Even more display appliances setup at the front left side of the store entryway.
Unfortunately I could get a good photo of the Smart Home back side display due to items being in the way.
The back side of the Home Services counter.
Thankfully I was able to get a good photo of this display.
These TV's were off at the front counter/checkout area.
Another look at the front checkout counters.
The search bar kiosk is tucked away in the right front corner of the store. Next to, you guessed it boxed appliances.
The lawn and garden area was pretty empty. Maybe as we get closer to Summer, more stuff will arrive.
Generator and Powerwashing machines.
A couple of display riding mowers and Craftsman tool sets near the front counter of the store.
Lawn and Garden is definitely struggling. I did not see any Craftsman products that were for Lawn and Garden uses.
More views of the checkout front counter.
The DieHard Battery display looks much older than it should. It is probably a leftover from an old store.
Some of the items setup at the checkout counter.
The gift card rack looks even older than the DieHard battery display.
As for my thoughts about Sears in 2023. This concept store sells what Sears was best known for. Tools and appliances are the bread and butter of what Sears was known for. It seems like this store is still selling a good number of appliances based on the amount of sold stickers I saw on appliances around the store. Is it enough to keep this location going inside of this prime shopping center? With this being my first visit, it is hard to tell. A handful of customers came in while we were in the store to browse and one to pick up an appliance. We also made a purchase and even earned some Shop Your Way points.
Final pictures as we leave for our next destination.
More to come, stay tuned.
Sears has so few stores in this region that it is interesting to see inside one of the few remaining Sears stores in this region. In fact, it is really one of just a couple of handfuls of Sears and Kmarts in the mainland US. With that, it is really amazing to see what a Sears looks like in 2023. Thanks for the photos, this is neat!
ReplyDeleteIn many ways, what we see here isn't too far off from the Sears Hometown Stores we saw in Houston in 2022, but this store does have more inventory than what the Willowbrook Mall Sears Hometown store had at least. Sears Hometown might have had more lawn & garden equipment though, but this store has DieHard batteries, more mattress displays, and more vacuum cleaners than what Sears Hometown had.
The warehouse store look of this place really doesn't work. This does not look like the kind of store one would buy a mattress from. It's like having mattress displays in a Home Depot. Also, the look of the store makes it feel like an appliance clearance store, but I guess they do sell a lot of open carton appliances here so maybe that does work.
You mentioned the rough shape of the garage door opener boxes, but I see some very faded Craftsman tool cartons as well. I suspect this store is selling a lot of old inventory from closed Sears and Sears Hometown stores. At least with Sears hand tools, they have date codes on the back of the box to help determine how old these things might be. I wonder if any of those tools have traveled between 4-5 different closing Sears stores! I also wonder if those DieHard batteries are old Sears stock or if they are the Dorcy DieHard batteries that MicroCenter sells. They have the same packaging so it is hard to tell, but the Dorcy ones do say Dorcy on the back in the fine text.
I wonder who would buy a Sears gift card here in 2023? Lol, at least it sounds like this store is still selling a decent amount of appliances. Sears is still a known name for appliances and I know some retailers like Home Depot have a poor reputation for appliance customer satisfaction so people might want to come back to Sears after having bad experiences elsewhere.
Sears is a bit of an outlier in this shopping center with mostly successful retailers, but hopefully the rent is such that it isn't too hard for Sears to keep this store open for a while longer. It is still a useful store even if this store does not stock enough items to make it a regular stopping point. It's too bad Sears couldn't keep the Hometown stores open in Houston because I think they could have done well enough if Sears put enough inventory in them.
For some reason this store flew under my radar, but once the Hometown stores closed, I realized that this store was still around. I don't know how I got this concept mixed up with the Hometown stores, lol. Along with the weird Kmart in Miami, this store is another oddball concept that is a last gasp effort to save the company.
DeleteThe store does well with the appliances and should probably focus on that aspect over other categories of merchandise. The Craftsman Tools are getting replaced by more off brands so it is possible that Sears will not have Craftsman tools at some point. The variety offered is so much smaller than you could find in the past, it is just sad.
This shopping center definitely is the best shot that the Sears has in keeping this place open. Some of the anchor stores left are in really busy malls such as Cielo Vista and the Florida Mall.
I should have taken a better look at the inventory tags to see the dates of the tool sets. If I go back in the future, I will make sure to check them out. It was hard to tell if they were opening up the store a bit more since inventory had thinned out, or if they were just doing product resets. I did see a few plan-o-grams lying around, so maybe that is the case. If I ever make it back down to the Rio Grande Valley, I will stop by the Pharr store which is also still open.
Here's a quick update. You probably already heard this news, but there is a report in the Acadiana Advocate that Sears is pulling the plug on the Home & Life stores and so this store in Lafayette will be closing. Link: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/business/the-last-sears-store-in-louisiana-will-close-its-doors/article_bcdf8a7c-efaa-11ed-ae31-f3da1609f7c3.html
DeleteI can't say I'm surprised given that the similar Sears Hometown stores had closed. It is sad to see another part of Sears go, but at this point, it is more surprising that this store had lasted as long as it did than it is surprising that it is closing. Oh well, at least you were able to document this effort by Sears to try to reinvent themselves.
Also, unrelated, but I heard that Gordon Food Service is opening a GFS Store in Humble where the old Big Lots was (I still think Big Lots is planning to move out by the old Wal-Mart, but I have not heard any updates about that). The GFS Store at North Oaks Mall opened about a month back so they're certainly trying to expand across the Houston area.
For sure, I have still been checking up on the Sears Layoffs page a couple of times a week. I am glad that I made the effort to visit this store when I did. The past two months have been extremely busy for me, and I hadn't put any time into the blog. With the exception of my West Oaks visit last week, I hadn't documented anything new since early April.
DeleteI read a post about the GFS in Humble, I am glad that the old Big Lots building will not sit there and fall apart. It will be my first chance to try out GFS once they open.
Now it is best to just stay away from Sears. They never really made anything in the past as Craftsman tools were just farmed out to dozens of separate independent tool manufacturers. Now it is even worse since Black and Decker bought the brand and focuses on cost vs quality along with their Lowes contract.
ReplyDeleteKenmore units were made by other companies for decades (Whirlpool, GE, LG, etc.), but you paid a markup for the Kenmore name tag they threw on to the unit. They even sold off Diehard to Advance Auto Parts a few years ago.
They certainly made a lot of bad decisions that got the company to this point. At this point it is more of curiosity as to how they are still in business.
DeleteAnd now it is closing: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/business/the-last-sears-store-in-louisiana-will-close-its-doors/article_bcdf8a7c-efaa-11ed-ae31-f3da1609f7c3.html
DeleteAnother Sears bites the dust, I feel sad for the employees who have to start over in another job.
DeleteThe five small format stores are now closing per Transformco job listings. Lucky that you were able to get these photos before the inevitable happened.
ReplyDeleteI had a feeling that this store was not going to last much longer on my visit. I am very glad that I made it a priority to visit the store when I did.
DeleteI was delighted to come across your blog post about the Sears Home and Life store in Lafayette, Louisiana. It's always exciting to see new additions to the retail scene, especially when they offer a wide range of home products and appliances. Additionally, I wanted to share some great news with you and your readers. JCPenney is currently offering an in-store coupon for 10 off $25, which can be a fantastic way to save on home essentials and more. I thought your audience might appreciate this money-saving opportunity while exploring the Sears Home and Life store. Thank you for providing valuable information and keeping us informed about the latest retail happenings!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aintpayingfull.com/promotions/jcpenney-coupons-in-store-10-off-$25
Probably not surprisingly, this store is closing soon: https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/business/the-last-sears-store-in-louisiana-will-close-its-doors/article_bcdf8a7c-efaa-11ed-ae31-f3da1609f7c3.amp.html
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late comment, the store may already be gone by the time you read this reply.
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