Carry cash market square

Sears Hardware to open largest unit yet - eighty thousand square-foot store to open, 20,000 square-foot store to close in East Norriton - Brief Article

EAST NORRITON, PA. -- Sears Hardware will open an 80,000-square-foot store here next month, the largest yet in Sears' 170-unit specialty division. The former Hechinger's store will feature a 20,000-square-foot outdoor area with lawn and garden supplies and some building materials. An expanded greenhouse will measure 4,000 square feet.

"We'll be moving hardware back to the front of the store," said Bob Platt, the store's manager. Sears Hardware has been playing around with the location of its 7,000-plus sku fastener department, which greets customers inside its Phoenixville, Pa., store. But after shoving it to the back within the Newark, Del., unit, the retailer discovered that shoppers preferred the more obvious spot.

Other changes to the evolving format, which Sears Hardware began testing a year ago, include cash registers in the lawn and garden section, which will carry an expanded assortment of outdoor power equipment. Plumbing, electricals and convenience lumber assortments will get deeper. Large appliances, which were recently tested within a Sears Hardware in Connecticut, will be added to the merchandise mix of the East Norriton outlet. The newest store will also feature Sears Hardware's first tool rental department.

Located outside of Philadelphia, the East Norriton unit will be Sears Hardware's fourth store opening in 2001. The previous three units -- in Windham, Conn.; O'Fallon, Mo.; and Portage, Ind. -- are 55,000 square feet each. Sears Hardware has been closing many older, smaller units, according to company spokesman Larry Costello. The current number of Sears Hardware units is approximately 170, down from 186 locations a year ago. The company is in the process of closing a 20,000-square-foot Sears Hardware down the street from the East Norriton unit. This will be the first "relocation" of inventory and personnel for the Sears Hardware division.

East Norriton's market density can easily support a larger store, said Platt, who previously headed merchandise planning for Sears Hardware. "This was a really good Hechinger's store," he observed. "It did $20 million at its high point." As the father of newborn twins, Platt said that he is looking forward to running a store close to his home.