Store Check: Sears Beauty, Toy Departments

Sears got all dolled up this fall with the addition of beauty and toy departments to select stores.Installed in 13 stores in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in late summer, the beauty departments encompass cosmetics, bath and body, skincare and fragrance SKUs from such leading brands as L'Oreal's Maybelline and L'Oreal, Procter & Gamble's CoverGirl and Coty's Sally Hansen and Rimmel London. "Sears will be the only mall-based department store to exclusively offer an assortment of mass, specialty and prestige beauty brands," according to a Sears press release issued when the initiative was first announced. Stores without full departments are stocking a smaller selection of skincare products. (See "Sears 'Bath and Body' Fixture" Images at right.) Designed to be "customer focused" by providing "product testing and consumer education," according to the release, the department features branded back-lit gondolas, testing stations with mirrors, and a computer station that lets shoppers search for additional products on Sears' website. Sears has adopted the standard promotional tactics of the cosmetics category to drive sales. In November, for instance, shelf signs communicated an offer for a free cosmetics bag with $32.50 purchase of Physician's Formula products. Meanwhile, the chain announced in August that it will leave what typically are seasonal Toy Shop departments open year-round in 20 stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. The shops opened Aug. 15. Cartoon-style ceiling banners and other signs identify the department, which comprises five aisles. Products from such top manufacturers as Mattel/Fisher-Price, LeapFrog and Hasbro are merchandised on gondolas. Learning Curve Brands' Thomas Wooden Railway toys and Gotta Getta Gund's Sesame Street plush animals are presented on permanent displays deployed as endcaps. Sears' My First Craftsman, My First Kenmore and Just Kidz private-label brands are stocked on gondolas around the perimeter of the department.Sears Holdings, Hoffman Estates, IL, operates 912 Sears department stores and 1,343 Kmart discount stores nationally. Overall sales in third-quarter 2009 (ended Oct. 31) decreased 4.4% to $10.2 billion. Sales at Sears dropped 5.5% to $5.5 billion, as comparable-store sales fell 4.6%.

Store Check: Sears Beauty, Toy Departments

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