WEST JORDAN — Teresa Byrd stops inside the souped-up Sears Grand store at shelves of S'Mores makers. The dessert maker includes a grill and heating fuel but a label warns, "food not included."
That's not a problem at this first-in-the-nation Sears Grand store, the largest of five that the nation's oldest retail chain plans to open over the next two years.
"You can buy Graham crackers, Hershey bars and marshmallows" a few aisles away, says Byrd, a Sears, Roebuck & Co. vice president for merchandise. "It's all available under one roof. You don't have to make another stop at a grocery or convenience store."
At Sears Grand, which plans an unadvertised "soft" opening today at Jordan Landing, shoppers at once can buy a Kenmore refrigerator and stuff to put inside it: milk, juice, ice cream and frozen pizza. The official opening date for the West Jordan store is Oct. 11.
It has everything expected from Sears, including a 10-bay auto shop, plus more. There are lawnmowers, of course, but also grass seed, fertilizer and a plant nursery. It has Craftsman hand and power tools — plus an assortment of nails, screws, bolts and hangers rivaling Home Depot's.
A year-round toy department was yet another concession to focus groups Sears consulted in Chicago and Salt Lake City.
Analysts say Sears has a lot riding on this new concept. For years the struggling retailer has been losing market share to big-box competitors such as Wal-Mart, Circuit City, Lowe's and Bed, Bath & Beyond — all of which surround Sears Grand in this booming Salt Lake suburb of young families.
"There's a lot of reasons why people don't go to Sears anymore," says former Montgomery Ward executive Sid Doolittle, now a partner at Chicago's Mcmillan/Doolittle Retail Consultants. For one thing, he said, nobody needs a refrigerator or television every day.
"They're working hard to turn around. This is not just a small experiment. If this doesn't work, they've really got a problem," Doolittle said.
Byrd won't pin Sears' future on this concept, calling it just a trial run in "one-stop shopping for busy families." Customers can order a cup of espresso from a cafe, push fancy carts equipped with a cup holder, have window blinds cut to order, get their eyes checked and film developed.
With 860 stores, Sears dominates regional malls, but Sears Grand is an "off-mall" concept. At 210,000 square feet, it's larger than the average Sears store, with extra-wide aisles in a racetrack layout.
The merchandise is neatly organized, but shoppers who need help can stop at one of 20 information kiosks for price checks, directions or assistance from one of 250 staffers.
Checkout lanes are at the front of the store, supermarket-style, instead of at the center of different departments.
Sears will open other Grand stores next year in Las Vegas and Gurnee, Ill. The locations of two more opening in 2005 have yet to be selected.
Byrd admires the electronics department, which adds music compact discs and DVD movies to Sears' traditional hardware, and points to a $2,000 Bose home theater base unit.
"Bose is a product you'll never find at mass discounters," she said. "This is another differentiator — a quality name brand, highly recognizable. There's a lot of technology here."