LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Sears: Sears Retail
built 650 days ago
Led by Kmart Holding Corp. chairman Edward Lampert, the new Sears Holdings Corp. would be the nation’s third largest retailer. Both chains would survive, but several hundred stand-alone Kmarts throughout the country are expected to be transformed into Sears stores. The goal: A quick kick-start to sales away from Sears traditional base of shopping malls.
Source:
The largest Sears store in the world, operated by Sears Canada, is 817,850 square feet (75,981 m²), in the Toronto Eaton Centre. The largest American store is located near the Sears headquarters at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. It has 416,000 square feet (38,600 m²) of retail space.
Source:
* According to Stores magazine rankings, Sears/Kmart, Wal-Mart and Target have a combined annual sales total of over $460 billion. Wal-Mart is ranked as the nation's number one retailer, Target is ranked number five and Sears/Kmart is ranked number six.
Source:
Sears diversified and became a conglomerate during the mid-20th century. It established several major brands of products such as Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, Silvertone (electronics) and Toughskins. The company started the Allstate Insurance Company back in 1931, and had representatives operating in its stores as early as 1934. It purchased Dean Witter and Coldwell Banker real estate in 1981, and started what became Prodigy as a joint venture with IBM in 1984. It ... introduced the Discover credit card in 1985. During the late-1980s, and as late as 1993, the Discover card was the only accepted credit card at many Sears retail locations.
Source:
Mired in a retail slump, Sears had long fallen out of favor on Wall Street after losing ground to competitors and enduring sluggish sales for years. The company last fall introduced its Sears Grand stores, which offer grocery and convenience items besides traditional Sears fare such as clothing, home appliances and tools. The concept had delivered promising results for the retailer at its first three stores in metropolitan Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and in the Chicago suburb of Gurnee.
Source:
In addition to Gear, Sears is represented in Washington, D.C. by the OBC Group. Sears is a member of the National Retail Federation, Direct Marketers Association, American Financial Services Association and 48 state retail associations across the country.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Sears Retail