
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994                   TAG: 9408230073
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SEARS BETS ON RETURN TO TOWNS

Sears, the giant retailer that last year quit the catalog business and closed most of its retail stores in small towns, including Rocky Mount, is rapidly reopening small stores and wants to put one in Rocky Mount.

Sears Merchandise Group, a unit of Chicago-based Sears Roebuck and Co., said Monday the main difference between the new small Sears shop and the old ones is the absence of catalogs and franchise fees.

Here, according to Sears spokesman Tim Conway, is how the new stores will work:

A merchant will lease 5,000 to 8,000 square feet of retail space and hire three to 10 employees. Sears will provide merchandise, the cash register and signs for the operation and share advertising expenses. When items are sold, Sears will pay the store operator a commission.

The stores will specialize in appliances, consumer electronics and Craftsman-brand tools and lawn and garden equipment.

Sears is opening its 300th small store this month, Conway said. Ninety percent of them are in communities that used to have catalog stores, and some are operated by former catalog store operators.

The one in Rocky Mount likely won't be. Nor can it be in its old space, which is now the deli for a Winn-Dixie supermarket.

George Nevins, who operated the Sears retail store near Rocky Mount, couldn't be reached for comment.

In January 1993, when Sears sent Nevins a computer-generated notice that stores such as his were being closed, Nevins remarked that he was surprised at the move because his business had been growing.

He and employees said they served loyal Sears customers who would not be satisfied having to drive to Roanoke to shop.

Sears apparently got that message.

The company plans 500 of the new cooperative stores and is using data from its charge card customers to determine where the stores need to be, Conway said.

It takes about 90 days to get a store open once a retailer is selected, Conway said. It probably will be January before one can be ready in the Rocky Mount area. The company is asking that prospective operators call Sears at (708) 286-9656. Conway did not know what response the company has gotten from its two newspaper ads.

In each city where Sears is trying to reopen, it has gotten about 25 applicants, he said.

by CNB