By Josh Mitchell
Corinth Today News Editor
The Corinth Sears Hometown Store is closing, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
Early this month, Sears Hometown announced that the prior franchise owner and operator, Harley Davis, was no longer affiliated with the Corinth store.
The company planned for the Sears Hometown Store in Harper Square Mall to remain open and find a new owner. But on Wednesday, Sears Hometown spokeswoman Ellie Halter said the store will now close.
“At the time we issued our initial statement, Sears Hometown in Corinth had several candidates interested in becoming owners,” Halter said in a statement. “We have since come to the mutual decision to close the location.”
The Corinth Sears Hometown shakeup came just as the store appeared to be on the verge of moving from Harper Square Mall to a remodeled building in the SouthGate shopping center less than two miles away.
A building space next to Belk in the SouthGate center at the intersection of U.S. Highway 72 East and Cass Street was supposed to be the store’s new location. Sears Hometown Store signs were even placed on the building.
Davis, the previous Sears Hometown franchisee, said permit complications and FEMA compliance issues reportedly caused SouthGate’s owner to experience construction delays.
Davis of Corinth said the Sears Hometown Store was originally supposed to open at SouthGate in August of 2017. He said he would probably be in business at SouthGate today if he had been able to open within the needed time frame.
Earlier this month, Sears Hometown said there were “no immediate plans” to relocate the store to the remodeled building but did “intend to maintain our presence in the Corinth community.” The plan was to “evaluate the store’s location” once a new owner was identified.
It was unclear what impact the Corinth Sears Hometown closure announcement will have on the SouthGate building that was being remodeled for the store’s proposed new location.
A SouthGate representative declined to comment for this story.
Sears Hometown thanked the Corinth community for its support through the years.
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