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Staff photo/Christopher Bouchard Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess, left, and David Bell, general manager of the new Sears Hometown store in Caribou, discuss the process of obtaining the store, what will be sold, and the potentially positive impact it could have on Caribou’s economic growth. |
By Christopher Bouchard
Staff Reporter
CARIBOU — After nearly two years of planning, the city of Caribou will be receiving a Sears Hometown store in the new year.
Sears Hometown stores bear the Sears name, but are different in that the store owner owns the facility and Sears Holdings owns the inventory. Aside from that, the owner does not have to deal with franchising fees, meaning the store’s profits will help support Caribou’s economic growth.
Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess introduced David Bell, who is going to be the new store’s general manager, to city councilors recently.
“We’re very excited to have Sears join us in Caribou as part of our business attraction efforts that we’ve been undertaking for the past two years,” said Bleess. “We’re looking forward to their grand opening in a few months and the other good things that are going on.”
“Sears approached us several months ago about the possibility of opening a Hometown store,” said Bell. “It was something that I think will be a huge win for Caribou. It will help a lot of businesses in town, and it gives people a place to go to pick up a full line of appliances, lawn and garden equipment, and tools. Hopefully we’re going to be adding some more items in the future.”
The store, expected to open its doors Jan. 28, 2016, will be located on Sweden Street between the Post Office and Sitel, in the same building the Expect More Dollar Store and Options are currently located in.
Bell hopes that the addition of Sears to Caribou helps usher in more shoppers to the community.
“I’d love to see more business come into Caribou,” said Bell. “I think Caribou has been hungry for that for a long time. Every little bit helps, and hopefully it will help everybody here too.”
Bleess explained that the decision to bring Sears to Caribou was the result of working with Buxton, a retail analytics company which helps determine which businesses are the best fit for a particular community.
“We noticed (through Buxton) that Sears became a good match for Caribou,” said Bleess. “There are other stores that closely match our community and our demographics that we are continuing to work to attract. I think having the Sears will show that the data works, that it is correct, and that Caribou can sustain stores like Sears.”
