Sears revamping 70 percent of home

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 5/20/2004 12:00:00 AM

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears is putting its home textiles muscle behind Colormate, its standard bearer for years, but with a new casual approach; and Whole Home, the centerpiece for more formal bedding.

Lands' End will be positioned in home textiles as the top of the line.

The giant retailer is redoing 70 percent of its home textiles department with what Alan Lacy, chairman and CEO, calls "an upgrade," as well as the elimination of some products, including closet shop and big rugs "that we held on to when we shifted to a self-select model."

The key to the changes, he explained after the annual meeting here earlier this month, "is shopability." To this end, the home textiles departments will have a new layout, new white-finished bent-wire fixturing and simplified fixtures for top-of-bed presentation.