Sears Celebrates a New Kind of 'Grand' Opening in Gurnee

From milk to refrigerators, shoppers are in for a new kind of shopping experience at Sears Grand in Gurnee, Ill. Chicago's largest hometown retailer, Sears, Roebuck and Co. (NYSE: S), will open the doors to its second Sears Grand pilot store on Saturday, April 3. The 201,000 square-foot store, located at 6136 W. Grand Ave. at Gurnee Mills, features an unprecedented combination of private and national brands in a bright, colorful, easy-to-shop format aimed at being the ultimate solution for family and home shopping needs.

Shoppers will find a diverse selection of convenient, new products and services that complement popular Sears products, such as lawn fertilizer, key cutting, diapers, books, CDs and DVDs, pantry items -- even a Citibank branch. Sears Grand offers the best of what Sears is known for -- appliances, lawn and garden supplies, tools, automotive products and services, sporting goods, apparel and hardware -- with an innovative mix of convenience-inspired items.

"Sears Grand offers busy shoppers a way to manage their lives and households more efficiently," said Teresa Byrd, vice president, general merchandise manager for Sears off-mall stores. "We listened to our customers and designed Sears Grand as the ultimate solution for busy families. It's the heart and soul of the Sears shoppers love -- including the quality brands and services we're known for -- with an added level of convenience and ease."

Quality, Convenience and Innovation Stand Out at New Store

As the second in a series of pilot stores, Sears Grand in Gurnee offers a new kind of shopping experience. From the centralized location to the innovative mix of high-quality products, services and competitive prices, Sears Grand defines one-stop shopping. In addition to shopping national and Sears-exclusive brands, customers also can have their car serviced, get a cup of coffee at the cafe, have window blinds custom-cut or get their eyes examined. Sears Grand carries hundreds of familiar brands including Lands' End, Craftsman, Kenmore, Cuisinart, Nike, Whirlpool, NordicTrack, CoverGirl and Huggies. Sears Grand's unique product and service offerings enable multi- tasking families to efficiently manage their busy lives and households.

Other fun and helpful store features include shopping carts that have a kid-friendly racecar theme and are equipped with cup holders for mom and dad. Plus, price verifiers throughout the store will enable customers to easily identify the price on any product or to call for assistance if needed.

"We are excited to become part of the Gurnee community -- one of the fastest growing areas in the country," said Jeff East, Sears Grand store general manager. "We look forward to being a good neighbor and assisting the people of Gurnee and the surrounding communities with their family and home related needs."

Sears Grand Celebrates With Grand Opening Festivities on April 3

Sears Grand will host a number of "grand" opening festivities to welcome customers to the new store. Chicago Bears Quarterback Rex Grossman will be on hand at the grand opening from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. to meet customers and sign autographs and Veggie Tales characters will greet young fans from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. In addition, the first 500 customers through the doors on April 3 will receive $10 Sears Grand gift cards. In addition, all customers may enter to win a trip for four to DisneyWorld or any of several Sears Grand shopping sprees, valued in total at more than $6,000. Additional festivities will take place throughout the season.

Sears Grand

Sears Grand is the one-stop home and family solution center that delivers a full range of quality products that no other store provides, all at a great value. Nearly everything busy people need to maintain their homes and keep their families on-the-go can be conveniently found here, under one roof. Customers also will benefit from the expertise of the best-trained, most knowledgeable appliance associates in the industry. Sears Grand store hours are Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Sears Grand represents a new full-line store concept for Sears, Roebuck and Co. Sears, Roebuck and Co. is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services. With revenues in 2003 of $41.1 billion, the company offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through more than 2,300 Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the U.S. and Canada, which includes approximately 870 full-line and 1,100 specialty stores in the U.S. Sears also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com, and specialty catalogs. Sears is the only retailer where consumers can find each of the Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Lands' End brands together -- among the most trusted and preferred brands in the U.S. The company is the largest provider of product repair services with more than 14 million services calls made annually.

SOURCE: Sears, Roebuck and Co.

CONTACT: Media, Kathleen Connolly of Sears, Roebuck and Co.,
+1-847-286-4644, kconno1@sears.com ; or Katie Durkin of Dome Communications,
+1-312-467-0760, katied@domecom.com

Web site: http://www.sears.com/