New Sears Store Opens at Imperial Valley Mall

From apparel and appliances to mattresses and fragrances, shoppers are in for a new kind of shopping experience at the newly relocated Sears store at Imperial Valley Mall in El Centro, Calif. Sears, Roebuck and Co. (NYSE: S) will officially open the doors to its newest store on Saturday, March 5, 2005. The 130,000-square-foot store, located at 3751 S. Dogwood Ave. at Imperial Valley Mall will be the first retailer to open at the new mall.

The new store, which is a result of the relocation of the Sears store at El Centro Mall, is twice as large as its former location. It features new and expanded merchandise categories and services in an easy-to-shop format that provides solutions to further meet the home and family shopping needs of area residents.

"The new Sears at Imperial Valley Mall will offer busy shoppers an easy way to manage their busy lives and households," said Bob Diaz, store general manager. "We listened to our customers and created a store that makes shopping easy and provides customers with the brands, products and services they know and love from Sears. We've also expanded many of our departments, giving area families unprecedented access to new products, brands and services."

The store is designed to make it easy for customers to shop. The one-level store features 10-foot wide aisles, exit cashiering, bilingual signage and price verifiers that enable customers to look up prices or call for assistance if needed.

New product categories include fragrances, mattresses and additional home fashions such as draperies, wall art, dishes and lamps. The appliance department is expanded and showcases a full selection of the top six national appliance brands, including the best-known name in appliances, Kenmore. For the first time, El Centro area residents will have access to Sears-exclusive apparel brands like Structure for men and A|Line for women thanks to the bolstered apparel offering. Also, based on customer input, the shoe department has been significantly expanded and converted to a self-select model. Additionally, the size of the store's fine jewelry department has quadrupled and now offers a full assortment of costume jewelry. The new store will also add H&R Block to its mix of services -- just in time for tax season.

The store will continue to carry hundreds of national and Sears proprietary brands like Lands' End®, Craftsman®, Kenmore®, Cuisinart, Nike, Whirlpool and NordicTrack. Its unique product and service offerings provide solutions to help multi-tasking families efficiently shop for their home and family -- all at a great value.

Bob Diaz will have oversight responsibility for the store and more than 150 associates. With more than 30 years of retail experience, Diaz was also the manager of the former El Centro store since 1998. The opening of the new store has created up to 50 new jobs in the community.

Sears Celebrates With Grand Opening Festivities on March 5

The new store will host a number of grand opening festivities to welcome customers to the new store, including giveaways, product demonstrations and fun character appearances. From 8 to 9 a.m. on March 5 customers can register at the main west-side entrance to win a $1,000 Ribbon Cutting Sweepstakes given in the form of Sears gift cards. Drawing will take place during the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony around 9:15 a.m. Also, the first 750 customers through the doors after the ribbon cutting-ceremony will each receive a $10 Sears gift card. The highlight of the day will be an autograph signing from 1 - 3 p.m. by Jesse Metcalfe, also known as "John the Gardener" on the new hit show, Desperate Housewives. See rules attached.

Additional Grand Opening Activities in March for El Centro Community

Additional activities will take place throughout March including autograph sessions by baseball Hall of Famer, Rollie Fingers, on March 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. and NFL player, Donnie Edwards, on March 19 from 1 to 3 p.m.

About Sears

The new Sears at Imperial Valley Mall delivers a full range of quality products that no other store provides, all at a great value. In addition to leading national and proprietary brands from apparel to home electronics, customers also will benefit from the expertise of the best-trained, most knowledgeable appliance associates in the industry. The store hours are Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. (open one hour later than previous location) and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

About Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Sears, Roebuck and Co. ("Sears") is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services. With revenues in 2004 of $36.1 billion, Sears 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 service calls made annually. For more information, visit Sears' website at http://www.sears.com/ .

Abbreviated Contest Rules:

$10 Gift Card Rules: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal U.S. residents. Void outside CA and where prohibited. Offer limited to first 750 people to enter the store on 3/5/05. Limit one per household. Subject to complete rules posted in store.

Ribbon Cutting Sweepstakes Rules: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal U.S. residents. Void outside CA and where prohibited. Enter between 8 - 9 a.m. on March 5. Limit one entry per person. Winner will be announced at the ribbon cutting ceremony and must be present to win. Subject to complete rules posted in store.

SOURCE: Sears, Roebuck and Co.

CONTACT: Media, Lisa Gibbons of Sears, Roebuck and Co., +1-847-286-5506,
lgibbo3@sears.com

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