Chicago & Midwest + Illinois + Retail | August 28, 2019

Sears Hometown Sells Outlet Business for $133M

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, which spun off from Sears Holdings prior to the parent company’s bankruptcy, is selling its outlet stores to Liberty Tax Inc. for $132.9 million. The transaction, which doesn’t involve the Sears Hometown brand, covers about 125 Sears Outlet stores along with the Buddy’s Home Furnishings locations that Liberty didn’t already own.

“This is a continuation of Liberty Tax’s strategy of identifying and acquiring franchised or franchisable businesses while also building scale at attractive acquisition valuations,” said Andrew Laurance, chairman of Liberty’s board.

The tax preparation franchise, headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, also has the pending acquisition of the Vitamin Shoppe retail chain in the works.

At Hoffman Estates, IL-based Sears Hometown, CEO Will Powell said, “The Sears Outlet business is a profitable business with a unique business strategy that, as part of the dynamic Liberty Tax group of companies, is expected to generate future growth.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).