By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch The Sears Hometown store in Eatonville is closing, perhaps permanently. The store, a longtime fixture at the corner of Mashell Avenue and Center Street, is part of the Sears Hometown and Outlet Inc. chain of franchises that sell home appliances, tools, lawn and garden equipment, sporting goods and household items at more than 1,000 locations nationally. Rod Mochal, the company's regional sales director, said in December that there are no plans for a new owner-operator to continue or reopen the Eatonville franchise. Dick Christensen, GÇ¥the former owner of the business and the building, passed away" in July 2015, "and the decision was made to close the business rather than relocate,GÇ¥ Mochal said. "At this time, we do not plan on moving to another location." Sears Hometown stores are under different ownership than Sears department stores. Sears owns the inventory that is marketed at Hometown franchises, while the franchise owners are responsible for operating costs, including the building and payroll. The owners are paid a commission on sales of Sears merchandise. An average of 27 such stores have opened each of the past five years, according to Sears Hometown and Outlet, which has headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill. As of Oct. 31, the company had 1,172 Hometown and Outlet stores spread across all 50 states and in Puerto Rico and Bermuda. With the closing of the Eatonville store, the only Hometown store in Pierce County is in Tacoma. There are 20 others in Washington. Outlet stores sell discontinued, obsolete, reconditioned, overstocked, and scratch-and-dent appliances, lawn and garden equipment, tools, apparel and mattresses.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment