THORNTON - Unfortunately, it appears that Sears is now closing the Thornton Sears Grand. At the time of writing, this is the first and only known location to exist in Colorado.
A look at the history
[Thornton location's history]
Sears Grand opened at this location in 2005, having it's grand opening on October 22nd according to the DPL. To this very day, it still reflects the historic and unique "Grand" signage although it has reduced the variety and amount of products available closer to that of a normal Sears store.
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| Yellow price checking station seen in the Sears Grand before entering the closing sale. - Optopolis |
Sears Grand opened at this location in 2005, having it's grand opening on October 22nd according to the Denver Public Library online photo archive. To this very day, it still reflects the historic and unique "Grand" signage although it has reduced the variety and amount of products available, and although it now more-closely-resembles a normal, full-line Sears Department store.
Sears Grands were intended to be clean and modern looking. They were meant to be that one stop shop that was a bit more remaniscent of stores like Menards or Walmart, having everything from tools and hardware to food and clothing.
Although it doesn't have everything which the store originally had, you still can capture that huge 2000s ware-house store-look at the Thornton store, as seen in this 2019 video, embedded below. (If video doesn't load, click here.)
[General Sears Grand and Kmart history]
Sears opened the first Sears Grand in 2003 in Utah, and it seems that this would be part of Eddie Lampert's interest in buying out the brand as a whole. Today, the first Sears Grand is long gone and has been replaced by two other stores, including a Burlington Coat Factory.
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| Kmart in Loveland seen during their closing sale - Optopolis |
As soon as Kmart and Sears, both somewhat struggling brands at the time, were merged into one company, a lot of people began fearing the end. Eddie began to experiment though. He tried turning Kmarts into Sears Grand stores and Sears Essentials. It flopped. If it would ever have helped bring the two brands back into a stronger position, it appears it was too little, too late. All the Kmarts that were converted into Sears Grand and Sears Essentials stores either converted back to Kmart or closed permanently. Any remaining Sears Grand stores out there that were original would begin cutting back products to what the average Sears store carried, ultimately defeating the purpose of the Sears Grand name.
This likely influenced the closure of so many of these stores to where we are today with two left in the world-La Cucamonga, CA and Thornton, CO. Now with this store along with five standard full-line Sears closing, as well as under 30 other stores remaining in the US, it's a very concerning sign for the brand, seemingly with no where to go except down.
There are reports that there will be three more sets of closures which together will close all the stores for good, all of which are expected to be released this year. The closure of this Sears will leave exactly three other TransformCo stores in the Mountain Time Zone: one Kmart in Hamilton, MT; one Sears Appliances in Fort Collins, CO; and one full line Sears in El Paso, TX.
Thornton Sears Grand is announced to close + Update on closing date
On February 12th, 2021, "closing" job positions could be seen posted to websites including Indeed, temporary positions that are often created around the time that a Sears or Kmart begins their closing process.
The closing event for this store could be seen on SB360 website as of February 24th, 2021, and the store is scheduled to close on May 2nd, 2021. The Sears Auto Center, however, will remain open after the store closes... for now. Currently, this is the nearest full-line Sears store to Cheyenne; Sears Appliances has a location in Fort Collins, and Sears Hometown has a location in Laramie. The other Sears Grand in La Cucamonga, California will also continue oparation... for now.
What are your thoughts...
Now that this iconic Sears location is closing, do you think you'll miss it when it's gone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Originally published: 02/19/2021 at 3:00 PM MT
Updated: 06/17/2025 at 10:18 PM MT to clean up the appearance of the article and add additional information about the Sears closure that was previously not included.