Sears Canada president Calvin McDonald told Business in Vancouver in an exclusive interview that he plans to spend "millions" of dollars each to upgrade his Nanaimo and his Kelowna stores.
The six Metro Vancouver Sears stores that will remain after the high-profile Pacific Centre location closes next month will have to wait for upgrades until it is clear that the "refreshed" stores in other parts of Canada have been successful at luring more shoppers.
"We are prioritizing in the network and none of [the Vancouver stores] have been identified for the next round [of upgrades,]" McDonald said.
Sears sold leases for its stores in Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary for $170 million earlier this year.
McDonald said that his company's former Pacific Centre location simply was not strategic.
His company operated in about 350,000 square feet of space at the corner of Robson and Granville streets but that the building's total size was 560,000 square feet, he said.
"We weren't in the end operating on all floors. We had offices in some. We had clearance on some and other floors were dark," he said.
McDonald stressed that the ideal Sears store footprint is between 80,000 and 100,000 square feet.
Another strategic move McDonald is embarking on is to increase the number and the average store size of Sears Hometown-branded stores. Those locations are about 5,000 square feet on average and operate in small towns. McDonald wants to open some Sears Hometown stores that are up to 25,000 square feet, but he would not disclose any new B.C. locations.
"Customers living in Vancouver are still going to see the transformation happening at Sears through better product," he said. "We're relaunching the Jessica brand and just launched the Baby's Room [department.]"
