from jsonline.com
WEDNESDAY, May 17, 2006, 10:32 a.m.
By Doris Hajewski
Four Kmart stores are now Sears Grand
Grand opening activities are scheduled this weekend for four new Sears Grand stores in Wisconsin - in Menomonee Falls, West Bend, Baraboo and Oshkosh.
The stores are among 13 Sears Grands around the country that opened late last week, all conversions from former Kmart stores.
The Sears Grand format was first introduced in 2003 by Sears Roebuck & Co. in Utah.
The early stores, including one in Gurnee Mills, were about 200,000 square feet.
The early Sears Grands offer most of what is in a traditional Sears store, plus packaged and frozen foods, health and beauty products, garden supplies, books and magazine.
The off-mall concept was intended to compete with Target and other big box chains that offer food as part of their merchandise mix.
After Kmart Corp. bought Sears last year, the company converted 50 Kmart locations around the country to Sears Essentials stores, a hybrid of both formats, but with Sears brands. There were no Sears Essentials stores in Wisconsin.