Sears Hometown Store

S closes R closes C closes R closes Closes B closes D closes B closes We are open. Even on Sundays. Safely in our store or online. Today we're going to have a look at several visits at the Sears Hometown Store located in Squim, Was Sears Hometown Stores were locally owned and operated distributors of Sears appliances, tools and other merchandise. Owners were responsible for the operating cost such as rent and payroll, but the company retains owners Sears Hometown and outlet stores was established as an independent company back in 2012. I was acquired by Transform Code during the purchase of Sears assets in 2019. The Sears Hometown Store in Squim, Was Gray. One day Mr. Gray's father-in-law noticed an ad in the local newspaper about Sears looking for an authorized dealer to open a branch in Squim. Mr. Gray was looking to get He already had many years of retail experience in a district manager position for such stores as Circuit City, Walmart, Home Base and Martians. Mr. Gray owned the Sears Hometown Store for about 20 years before deciding to sell the store to retire. Mr. Gray was quoted at the age of 66. I never thought I'd still be moving 300 pound refrigerators. I enjoyed much my time at Sears, but perhaps not lugging refrigerators around, but rather making connections with customers. I will miss the people part of it. He recalls one day a customer brought in a breaker bar tool for replacement and the customer noted it under warranty. The tool is from the World War II era. I've enjoyed the people that have worked for us and the fact that they have a lot of patience. Customer service in the small town is priority at a place In a small town, you have to take good care of your customers. We've tried real hard to do that. There are some t He sold the Sears Hometown Store in Squim to the owners of the Sears Hometown Store in the neighboring town, Port Angeles. In 2022, the Sears Hometown Store in Squim and the Sears Hometown Store in Port Angeles were the only Sears stores on the North Olympic Peninsula. They both closed following the retirement of then current owner, Mrs. Inman. She decided to retire because she couldn't reach an agreement with her corporate partners. She was quoted, I told Sears I wanted to go down to one store and keep the Squim location open for the community. She wanted to close the Port Angeles Store, but she didn't want to close the store. Since it was so close to the Squim location and gone as far as to begin purchasing the building in Squim, Mrs. Inman said it was difficult to keep the two stores open and keep them fully staffed at both locations since they were so close to each other and essentially serving the same population. She understood that both stores would remain open under corporate owners She said that they got the stores in pristine condition and the employees were on board with staying. She said I was literally retired for six days and they announced the stores were closing. There were five employees between the two stores. Folks stand by their good name. That's why Sears Hometown Stores have brand names you can trust and the knowledge, service and prices that will make you glad you walked in. We're your locally owned Sears Hometown Store and we're here to stay. Back when I was filming t It was basically just shooting with the phone. The videos I'm shooting nowadays are with much better camera equipment, more sturdy. So I apologize to get out your sick pills and see if you can stomach through the all the shakiness and wandering around. The first video that were taking a look at when I was talking about the Christmas footage was shot later that year in October and then now we're here at the Sears Hometown liquidation sale of again October. The Sears Hometown Store is actually currently now in East Hardware. So that was kind of cool that the town in the nearby areas retained a hardware store and Quincellino, So it sounds Walking through t Now it's basically trying to find any deals myself really. I'm just seeing how the liquidation was going. Now looking at some of these the writing lawnmowers. I wish I would have pulled the gun and purchased one back then even prior to the liquidation sale. It's just But as I'm walking around, you can see like a lot of the bulk merchandise I already pretty much have even at the steep discount. I just didn't it couldn't really see purchasing them. Well, They had some walking outdoors. Those are kind of some of the last the other t Seems I mean, they do sell but not nearly as quick as say the tools are kind of the first t But the store actually had quite a few sold and emptied out w The store as I mentioned before in the It's actually it's not that far from the Port Angeles Sears hometown, but much bigger. The other store was just as great to visit. But I mean the size was just astronomical to me compared to the other store. So here I found a Sears shopping cart w I mean, actually, I t But anyway, when I was walking around, I noticed some of the small Kenmore appliances that were for sale and I think they were And one of them is that Kenmore Blender never really needed one before at the price. I mean, I think they go for I mean, they're just they're so expensive, but at the clearance price, it's like, Oh, And it's like, Well, Yeah, I learned how to do a little bit of baking. But as I'm walking around and I was like, even to the mattresses that they had prior, they've sold the n So I t It's not a heavy metro area. It's kind of at the top of Was And it's not and I'm not near Canada, but near actually, you could basically I t So it's not really popular. And I t So that's why it's kind of great that the Ace Hardware is now where people can still, I do plan on to visit the Ace Hardware one of these days when I get backed up that way. It's a few hours away from where I reside. And there in that last shot, I was looking at the diehard formats. Those were, believe half off also. So I picked up a set of those from my truck. The store overall though, anybody need some spare tires there. How much those were. The store in itself, The Port Angeles store, w The Port Angeles store is much, much older and it takes you back in time a little bit, w T Actually, the type truth, I don'think I haven't been in a Sears hometown store where or even a Sears store where the employees weren't super nice and Here, it And So it's just a little bit tougher. And the liquidator that was here, I really don't know if they brought in a liquidator, or if it was the owner. But I have a feeling, The owner had retired. So But They'll hang signs everywhere. And as you can see, I mean, there's really no liquidation signs anywhere. There was a couple of signs in the old flower beds. But virtually, I mean, you would walk in here and I mean, if that wasn't for half the merchandise being gone, you wouldn't even know places on, So A lot of the craftsman tools, as you can see here, there was some that was wanting, but they were already kind of in pick through. They had Husqvarna lawn and garden tractors and some D walk tools in there. But as Many years ago, I worked for Sears for a n So my dad actually worked for Sears for a short period of time. Many, many, many, many decades ago, and I actually didn't even know that till talking to So that's kind of cool. It's kind of been family that we've all did a little bit of stint through Sears mostly when we're going back to school. So it's been pretty cool. It is going to be really sad to see all these Sears hometown stores now here in Was So I found it really hard. There's no way I could Even though a lot of them had already closed up, there was still quite a few open up the time. And I was actually able to visit a few of those and I filmed them. And I'll post those at some time at a later date when I get a chance to edit. And some of them are fairly recent also. So eventually, well, when I find time, I will be uploading those. It's matter of just me editing them and doing the research on them to try to present a decent video for I really do appreciate all joining with me. And if you've been able to stomach watc But there will be more videos being uploaded in the near future. It's definitely not going to be on a weekly basis. I just I have a personally have a pretty busy schedule. But definitely when I find time, I will sit down and produce more videos for A lot of them are going to be heavy into Sears and other retail stores. Some are going to be abandoned buildings. Some might even be the local trains going by, Hopefully you find some interest in some of the videos. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram at the specific Northwest Urbex or PNW Urbex, So Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Just click like or follow and I'm not going to present that in every video. I thanks. Take care.