Claremont
Store manager Anna Lallo said Friday the move to the former Connecticut Valley Home Care building on John Stark Highway is expected to be completed by Aug. 1.
Lallo said the store will double in size to 6,000 square feet and gain more customer visibility on a main road. She said the store will be able to increase its product offerings, which include appliances, tools, lawn and garden equipment, and electronics.
Lallo said Ed Gregory, owner of the store, bought the new location and interior renovations have started.
The store expansion comes at a time when struggling retail giant Sears is closing stores, including its West Lebanon location, due to financial difficulties. Sears Hometown stores operate as independently owned and operated locations and are not company owned.
Aubuchon Hardware in Newport’s Sugar River Plaza has completed its expansion into an adjacent storefront, doubling the retail space to about 10,000 square feet. The expansion comes 37 years after the store opened, in July 1980, assistant store manager Don King said. King said the larger store will allow the staff to stock products the store has not had before, including lumber, expand the pet supply department and provide a more open floor area.
“We have definitely been able to bring in more items,” King said, adding several new services will be offered, including glass cutting, screen repair and tool sharpening. “We can display more items, and assemble more product like lawn mowers and have them out on the floor.”
The company’s decision to expand the store, King said, was the result of performance and growth. “We have been doing very well here and had outgrown our other space.”
The expansion was into a vacant space that was previously occupied by Rent-A-Center, which moved over one storefront.
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