Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores Inc. Opens First Locations with Kitchen Remodeling Services Offering

(Franchise Buy) - By . Updated Sep 19, 2013

Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores Inc. Opens First Locations with Kitchen Remodeling Services Offering

Retailer Brings 23 Kitchen Tune-Up Kiosks to Showrooms and Hardware Stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (September 19, 2013) – More than 20 Sears Home Appliance Showroom and Sears Appliance & Hardware stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware are expanding their offerings with kitchen remodeling services from Kitchen Tune-Up, a national kitchen and bath remodeling franchise.

Totaling 23 locations, the stores now feature an interactive Kitchen Tune-Up kiosk, where customers can learn about affordable options to update their kitchen, view cabinet door samples, and use an iPad® to see project ideas and book an appointment for a no-obligation estimate.

These new kiosks are the first to open from a partnership formed earlier this year between Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOS) and Kitchen Tune-Up as a way to provide added services and a more robust shopping experience for its customers. The partnership allows franchisees and dealers that operate Sears Home Appliance Showroom and Sears Appliance & Hardware stores to purchase a Kitchen Tune-Up franchise at a reduced investment and place a kiosk within their existing store.

The first franchise group to take advantage of this partnership is Prayosha Holdings, which owns and operates the first 23 locations in the program. The company’s Director of Operations Joe Coyle said, “Customers are always coming into our stores looking for new appliances as a simple way to update their kitchens. Therefore, we knew that adding a Kitchen Tune-Up kiosk inside our locations would be a cost-effective way for us to provide them an avenue to take their refresher a step further without making it an intimidating, costly project.”

Kitchen Tune-Up serves residential and commercial customers and specializes in affordable kitchen remodeling. Services range from restoring and repairing existing wood cabinets, to refacing cabinets and replacing doors and hardware, to installing completely new custom-built cabinetry.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. and its subsidiaries present a unique business opportunity for entrepreneurs interested in having the brand power that the Sears name brings. Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. and its subsidiaries offer four different store formats and three franchise opportunities. Aside from providing access to a widely recognized brand, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. and its subsidiaries  provide franchisees with training support, purchasing power, inventory assortment and management and assistance, as appropriate, with financing, computer systems and marketing, among other services. As of February 2, 2013, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores and its dealers and franchisees operated 1,245 stores across all 50 states as well as in Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

For more information about Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores, Inc., including Sears Home Appliance Showroom and Sears Appliance & Hardware store formats, please visit www.shos.com. To learn about the opportunity to own and operate a Sears Home Appliance Showroom store format or other format, please visit www.ownasearsstore.com.

About Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: SHOS) is a national retailer primarily focused on selling home appliances, lawn and garden equipment, tools and hardware.  As of February 2, 2013, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores and its dealers and franchisees operated 1,245 stores across all 50 states as well as in Puerto Rico and Bermuda.

In addition to merchandise, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. provide consumers with access to a full suite of services, including home delivery, installation and extended service contracts.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. operates through two segments—the Sears Hometown and Hardware segment and the Sears Outlet segment. The Sears Hometown and Hardware segment’s stores are designed to provide customers with in-store and online access to a wide selection of national brands of home appliances, lawn and garden equipment, tools, sporting goods and household goods, depending on the particular store. The Sears Outlet stores are designed to provide customers with in-store and online access to purchase new, one-of-a-kind, out-of-carton, discontinued, obsolete, used, reconditioned, overstocked and scratched and dented products across a broad assortment of merchandise categories, including home appliances, apparel, mattresses, sporting goods, tools and lawn and garden equipment at prices that are significantly lower than manufacturers’ suggested retail prices.

For more information contact: Jayne Levy, Fishman Public Relations, at (847) 945-1300 or jlevy@fishmanpr.com or visit the corporate website at www.shos.com.

About Kitchen Tune-Up

Kitchen Tune-Up specializes in affordable kitchen and bath remodeling. They offer wood reconditioning “Tune-Ups”, cabinet refacing and redooring, closet organization, and custom cabinetry. Kitchen Tune-Up has been franchising since 1988 and territories are available nationwide and in Canada. Learn more at kitchentuneup.com or ktufranchise.com.

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