More selection, better customer service and a desire to service South Port residents has prompted Sears to move to lower Third Avenue from Adelaide Street.
New owner and operator Dave Beecroft confirmed that he and business partner Lori Flint are moving Sears into the former Home Hardware building on lower Third Avenue.
“We've been in talks over for the last six months but things really started moving about a month ago,” Beecroft said.
At approximately 10,000 square feet the new digs are considerably larger than the former location on Adelaide Street. “We'll be able to offer customers more of a selection of things,” Beecroft said.
The new store will be open for business on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The old store, which was run for the past four months by an outside manager from Sears Corp., will be closing its doors on Dec. 30.
The new store has enough staff to handle the opening but there may be more hiring farther down the road depending on how things shake out, he said.
Beecroft will be renting the new facility from his father, who owns it and formerly rented to Home Hardware. “We've cleaned the place up, made some cosmetic changes and given it that special Sears touch,” he said.
Moving to the new location is something of a homecoming for Beecroft. He owned Home Hardware and worked at that location before selling the business to current owner Jan Lavertu. Sears was also formerly located in South Port behind the old Zellers building.
South Port, particularly the uptown, has been maligned and there's been an exodus away from there. But the area gets a bum rap, Beecroft said. “We've been wanting to get to that side of town because there's still a good population base there,” he said. “People supported our business while we were there and we did well.”
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