Sears remodels Mall of the Bluffs store

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Sears includes customers' suggestions in Council Bluffs remodel

Even though Sears at Mall of the Bluffs in Council Bluffs is barely six years old, the retailer recently updated the store's look.

Store manager Jim Nelson said the remodeling of the 82,804-square-foot building, which opened in October 1998, included expansion of the shoe and appliance departments, new paint, carpeting, signs and fixtures.

The shoe department now has a new self-service section where shoppers can select the style and size they want. The appliance department carries six of the leading brands.

In some departments, certain merchandise was dropped and other items were added, Nelson said. For example, the store now carries personal care appliances and small pieces of luggage.

In electronics, he said, plasma and flat-screen televisions were added, along with a full line of digital cameras to replace 35 mm cameras.

The store has a "fresh, new look inside" which has "pleased and surprised" customers, he said. Many of the changes were based on customer comments on what they would like to see in the store.

Nelson said the work began in late May and was completed late last month. Sears will celebrate the store remodeling Saturday by giving away gift cards and holding contests for a chance to win shopping sprees.

Even though the Council Bluffs store is relatively new, the company wanted to focus more on major light appliances and shoes, Nelson said.

He said sales have increased since the remodeling, but he declined to release figures.

"That's encouraging," he said.

The Council Bluffs store opened Oct. 17, 1998, as the fourth anchor of the 730,000-square-foot mall near Madison Avenue and Interstate 80. J.C. Penney, Target and Dillard's are the other anchors of the mall, which has more than 90 retail stores and a nine-bay food court.

This year, Sears has freshened the look of stores in Council Bluffs and 99 other locations nationwide, said Corinne Gudovic, a spokeswoman for the Hoffman Estates, Ill., retailer. The Council Bluffs store is the only one in the Omaha metropolitan area to be remodeled. Sears also has stores at Oak View Mall and Crossroads Mall, both in Omaha.

In 1992, Council Bluffs lost its Sears store when the company closed 113 stores nationwide, including the one at the Midlands Mall.

Currently, Sears operates more than 2,300 stores in the United States and Canada. There are six stores in Nebraska and 12 in Iowa.

[Sodak]

You would think the time has come for Sears to remodel their store at Crossroads, or maybe they are contemplating moving it? (I believe they own it, though) The exterior is hideous.