Sears Plans to Convert Some Kmart Stores to New Format

Sears, Roebuck & Co. disclosed plans Tuesday to switch dozens of recently acquired Kmart stores to a new mid-size store format called Sears Essentials, providing more detail of what the combined Kmart-Sears retail behemoth would look like.

Evidently devised with discount giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. in mind, the concept will combine select Sears products such as appliances and clothing with convenience items such as health and beauty products. It effectively will be a smaller version of Sears Grand, the big-store concept the company introduced in 2003.

The move comes as Sears and Kmart Holding Corp. await regulatory approval of their merger, which would create the nation’s third-largest retailer, Sears Holdings Corp. The deal is expected to close in March.

Sears bought 50 Kmart and six Wal-Mart stores before the Nov. 17 merger was announced, saying the acquisitions would aid its strategy of moving away from malls. Twenty-five Kmarts will become Sears Essentials this spring. Each will be on one floor and 90,000 to 100,000 square feet.

Sears said last summer that three Kmart stores would be turned into Sears Grand stores -- 150,000-to-200,000-square-foot free-standing sites.

The first Sears Essentials stores will be in 12 states, including six in California.

Shares of Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears rose 10 cents to $52.20 on the New York Stock Exchange.