Sears refresh spotlights appliance lines
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
Sears Hometown owner/manager Ryan Gessert stands in front of a portion of the revamped appliance display space in his 5,500 square-foot store located at 1315 S. Main St. in Maryville. The local Sears Hometown is one of 51 locations affiliated with the 1,200-store chain that was selected for a refresh and rebranding effort focused on expanded inventory and employee product training.
The Sears Hometown Store at 1315 S. Main in Maryville has a new look, and owner Ryan Gessert says the franchise-sponsored refresh and rebranding effort will be a boon to customers in four key areas: product selection, employee product knowledge, service and price.
In Maryville, and similarly refreshed stores in Brookfield and Cameron, the most noticeable change is a re-worked floor plan that places the emphasis on Sears Hometown’s expanded appliance product line.
“It’s not just Kenmore,” said Gessert, referring to the retail chain’s well-known house brand.
Under the new design, appliances occupy more than half of a sales floor displaying such popular nameplates as Samsung, Whirlpool, Maytag and KitchenAid.
Gessert said his 5,500-square-foot store has added about 35 appliances across the display space, increasing the total product count from 135 units to approximately 170.
In addition, he said, the new look features three wood-framed kitchen vignettes, essentially mini-kitchens that let customers visualize how appliances will look and function in their homes.
The store refresh also includes new fixtures and signage, ramped-up employee training and brand-for-brand price matching.
Gessert said he is especially excited about the additional product training for his three full-time and four part-time employees, whose expanded expertise is being touted through the “America’s Appliance Expert” marketing campaign.
“It really gives us a lot more flexibility to take care of the customer,” he said.
The training includes instruction on how to employ tablet computers to help customers find products that suit their needs at the lowest price. Using the tablets, floor staff and customers can review product features and models from a comprehensive merchandise database.
Sears Hometown selected the Maryville store for the refresh based on its ranking as one of the corporation’s top 50 outlets nationwide. The retail chain was spun off by the Sears department store chain (formally Sears, Roebuck & Co.) in 2012 and now functions as a separate entity.
Gessert said the ranking is based on a variety of criteria, including sales, customer service and service after the sale.
Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. and its dealers and franchisees currently operate more than 1,200 stores located in all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico and Bermuda.
The initial 51 stores to be refreshed are located in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Vermont.
“Our Missouri stores have a renewed dedication to customer service and offer their local communities a whole new shopping experience,” said Russ Eihausen, district manager of Sears Hometown Stores in Missouri.
