The Great Indoors (department store)
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder | Sears |
| Defunct | 2012 |
| Fate | Closed all stores |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Home furnishings, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, flooring, wall treatments |
Number of employees | ~300 per store |
| Parent | Sears |
The Great Indoors was a chain of home furnishing retail outlets in the United States, established by Sears in 1997.
Description
Each location of The Great Indoors covered approximately 140,000 square feet and employed close to 300 employees. The stores were divided into four primary residential sections—kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and great room—alongside a dedicated area for flooring and wall treatments. Customers could explore around 75 lifestyle displays and choose from more than 50,000 products, featuring brands such as Bosch, Kenmore, Bose, Calphalon, Corian, Croscill, Karastan, KitchenAid, Kohler, Thermador, and Waverly. Many outlets also housed small cafés. While Sears credit cards were accepted for purchases, the stores themselves did not display Sears branding internally. By 2002, the chain had expanded to 20 locations with intentions for additional growth.
History
Introduced in 1997 with ambitions for steady expansion over ten years, The Great Indoors fell short of expectations. Despite achieving sales of $550 million at its peak, Sears began shutting down stores starting in 2005. The inaugural store opened on February 1, 1998, in Lone Tree, Colorado; the second was launched on November 1, 1999, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Broomfield, Colorado store ceased operations in December 2011. In February 2012, Sears declared it would close all nine remaining outlets. The Lone Tree store closed its doors in July 2012. The former Great Indoors location in Novi, Michigan was repurposed as a Sears Outlet until it closed in August 2019.