Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Hometown Stores will mark the 20th anniversary of the folding of the fabled Sears catalog with a special weekend promotion this month.
Hometown, a specialty chain spinoff of Sears Holdings, was born out of the “Big Book’s” closing in 1993, when Sears also pulled the plug on some 2,000 catalog stores. The company allowed 122 independent owners to continue representing Sears under the Hometown badge, which has since grown to more than 900 dealer store locations.
To commemorate the closing, the Hometown stores will host a “throwback” promotional weekend July 26-27 that will feature current versions of popular advertised specials from 1993 at comparable or lower prices.
One such “Super Buy” was a 3-cubic-foot capacity, 11-cycle Kenmore washer for $429, observed COO Will Powell. “To celebrate our 20th anniversary event, we’ll offer a comparable Kenmore washer [with] larger capacity, more cycles, an Energy Star rating [and] priced under $400,” he said.
In addition to throwback pricing, each shopper will receive an anniversary scratch card good for a “mystery discount” of up to 20 percent off an entire purchase.
“Looking back over the past 20 years, we’re celebrating tremendous progress,” said Bruce Johnson, president/CEO of the umbrella Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores group. “Everyone has memories of ordering from the eagerly awaited ‘Big Book’ for delivery to a local catalog store or their home.
“The ‘Big Book’ is gone,” he continued, “but as much as things change, we continue to grow by providing top-notch customer service and we still provide incredible values.”
