Sears Hometown Store

Gotta. We are open. Even on Sundays, shop 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, Washington. 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 ownership of the inventory. Sears Hometown and outlet stores were established as an independent company back in 2012. It was acquired by Transform Code during the purchase of Sears assets in 2019. The Sears Hometown Store in Squim, Washington opened in 2010 by Mr. 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 him and his family back to Washington State so they could be closer to family and he thought this would be a great opportunity. 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 a 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 things we can't fix, but we tried to do the best we can. 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. Inner. 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 since it was so close to the Squim location and had gone as far as to begin purchasing the building in Squim. Mrs. Ingle 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 ownership. 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. In a hometown, 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 were your locally owned Sears hometown store and we're here to stay. So Hey, everyone. Hey, I want to apologize for this camera work. Back when I was filming this at really at the time I'd really had no idea even starting YouTube videos 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 that first video That were taking a look at when I was talking about the history of this series hometown store that was shot back in February 2021 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 at this time. It's in year 2022 The Sears store is actually currently now in East hardware So that was kind of cool that their town in the nearby area has retained a hardware store and Quincellino, It's basically Trying to find any deals myself really and just seeing how the liquidation was going Now looking at some of these things 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 like gosh, I would have just picked up one of those but as I'm walking around You can see like a lot of the bulk merchandise, I just didn't it couldn't really see purchasing them well, They had some walking outdoors I mean they do sell but not nearly as quick as Say the tools are kind of the first things to disappear and The store actually had quite a few sold emptied out which I was a bit surprised This store as I mentioned before in the history of this Sear store closing. It's actually it's not that far from the Horde Angelus Sears hometown But much bigger the other store was just as great to visit But I mean the size was just astronomical to mean compared to the other store So here I found a serious shopping cart, which I don't really typically see I mean actually I think this is the only time I've been in a serious hometown store and seen this serious shopping cart but anyway When I was walking around I noticed some of the small Kenmore appliances that were for sale and I think they were I mean, they're just They're so expensive, but at the clearance price. It's like, well, They Ended up learning how to do some baking and stuff. It's like, well, Yeah, yeah, I learned how to do a little bit of baking, but you know, it's nice to have if you have it But as I'm walking around and I was like you know, to the mattresses that they had prior They sold the n It's not a heavy metro area It's kind of at the top of Washington state And it's not and I'm not near Canada, but near actually You could basically I think there's a ferry that leaves out of squim or port angeles that actually heads to 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 I believe half off also So I picked up a set of those from my truck I don't know how much those were I really don't know if they brought in a liquidator Or if it was the owner but I have a feeling you know, I do know at this point in time It was under corporate ownership They're you know, there was the banner out front 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 Um, you wouldn't even know that the place is on you know having a liquidation So, you know, you did find like I worked for sears for a n That's kind of been the family that we've all did a little bit of There's no way I could hit every sears hometown store in my state that was liquidating Um, 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 Um, and I'll post those at some time at a later date when I get chance to edit You know a lot of these videos I have are from you know the last two three four years And some of them are fairly recent also so eventually well when I find time I will I really do appreciate you all joining with me and If you've been able to stomach Watching this video. It's a little rough a little bit dizziness there A lot of them are going to be heavy into Sears Um, and other retail stores some are going to be abandoned buildings Some might even be Hopefully you find some interest in some of the videos You can also follow us on facebook and instagram at the pacific northwest urbex or Pnw urbex, you know, I'll post videos Sometimes um, but mostly I'll post a picture um, or some history of the area that I live in and um, show you a little bit of washington state So anyway, I do want to thank you follow us on facebook and instagram You know, if you like what you're watching or down the road you see some more of our videos and like it Just click Thanks. Take care Oh