Sears bankruptcy won't affect local stores

Sears Holdings’ announcement Monday that it filed for bankruptcy won’t have an impact on the local Sears Hometown stores or Kmart in Northwest Montana.

Jill Sargent, owner of Sears Hometown stores in Kalispell and Polson, said many people don’t realize that Sears Hometown stores aren’t part of Sears Holdings. In 2012, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. separated from Sears Holdings.

“We are separate and we are happy we broke away,” Sargent said. “The choice to do this was because Hometown store owners felt their stores were doing well and wanted to ensure our own destiny, so it seemed wise to break away.”

Sargent said her stores, which primarily offer appliances, are offering more tools and she said customers have the benefit of working with a “very knowledgeable sales staff.”

There are 13 employees at the Kalispell and Polson stores.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. issued a statement Monday in response to the Chapter 11 filing by Sears Holdings.

“Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. has not filed for bankruptcy and is not part of today’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Sears Holding Corporation. It remains business as usual at all of our locations, which include the more than 750 retail stores in 49 states across the nation,” according to the statement.

The Sears Hometown Store in Libby is also not closing and store manager Jeremy Smoke said he is actully hiring.

For the Kalispell Kmart, Store Manager Caleb Oaks deferred questions to Sears Holdings. When it was contacted, a message to reporters explained where to find information on store closings for Kmart and Sears.

No Montana stores were on the closure list, however a Sears store in Boise, Idaho, was on the list to be closed by the end of 2018.

The first Sears store in the Flathead Valley was a catalog store that opened in September 1959. Catalog stores were added in Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Polson. In 1984, the catalog stores closed and in their place came the valley’s first Sears Hometown Store.

The Sears Hometown Store in Kalispell is located at 1105 U.S. 2 W. For more information call 406-755-5768 or go to www.searshometownstores.com/home/mt/kalispell/3248.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 406-758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.