Appliances take center stage
As Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores continues its system-wide appliance-centric store refresh, a grand reopening is under way at six stores in Colorado.
The July 21-23 event celebrates what the retailer describes as an in-store development to meet changing consumer needs and embrace the slogan “America’s Appliance Experts.” The Company began updating units in 2015 and now has nearly 340 “America’s Appliance Experts” locations across the United States.
The store refresh includes a new product assortment, redesigned merchandising, new fixtures & signage, and comprehensive employee training, among other changes.
“Our team has worked to update every facet of our appliance retail strategy to provide Colorado communities with a first-class shopping experience,” said Stewart Farris, district manager of Sears Hometown Stores in Colorado. “We’ve worked closely with our sales teams to ensure they’re as helpful to our customers as possible, offering expertise in every aspect of the appliance shopping experience.”
In the new store design, appliances will occupy more than half of the sales floor and include more brands with an improved presentation. The stores will also focus their appliances on innovative and value-added products from Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Samsung and Kenmore.
The new floor plan also includes the ability to showcase complete kitchen packages through the addition of three kitchen vignettes.
This allows stores to display an entire four-piece kitchen from multiple brands in a small amount of floor space, making it easier for customers to choose products. Another new feature that simplifies the buying process is a designated laundry innovation area, showcasing multiple brands and innovations, that lets customers easily explore the differences between the various product lines.
As part of the refresh, the Colorado Sears Hometown Stores provide training to store associates, including brand specific selling certification. The stores also are equipped with new touch-screen kiosks to review product features and benefits as well as various models from the entire online database of Sears products.
As of April 30, 2016, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. and its dealers and franchisees operated 1,150 stores across all 50 states as well as in Puerto Rico and Bermuda.