Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2015 | Page 22

Learning To Franchise – the Sears Way
Five years ago, Keith Edquist became one of the first
franchisees for Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores
(SHOS). But he almost wasn’t a franchisee at all. In
fact, he’d never been a franchisee in his nearly 50 years
in the retail and wholesale appliance business.
“I know people who have a lot of franchises in the
food industry, but I never thought I would find myself
in the franchise business,” he says. Today, going on
71, he has 10 franchised Sears stores open in Phoenix,
Tucs on, and Las Vegas and is building an 11th. “Most
are former company stores,” says Edquist. Seven are
Sears Home Appliance Showrooms and three are Sears
Outlets. “I have built three and the fourth will be the
Outlet I’m building in Phoenix.”
He knew a lot…
Edquist, who built his own wholesale appliance distribution company in Omaha (Husker Hawkeye Distributing), is savvy enough to know
that he can’t succeed on this scale
alone, and not remotely from
Nebraska. About a year ago he
brought in two partners, Jeff and
Steve Roebke, to help him manage the “somewhat phenomenal”
growth of his Sears stores.
“They’re minority shareholders, but I consider them
full partners. It’s the best of all
worlds: Steve is a top finance
and accounting guy, Jeff is a top
operations guy, and my son Rich
is a marketing guy.”
In fact, it was his son who got
Edquist involved in franchising. “He had an interest in
a Sears Hometown store in the Phoenix area where he
lived, and was familiar with the appliance business,” he
says. When they put in an inquiry for that store, Sears
responded with an offer to sell them three companyowned Home Appliance Showrooms in the area, and
they were off and running.
…but Sears knew more
“There are certain things that are very important in
the appliance business—knowing your product thoroughly and how to present it. Once you’ve mastered
that, get the product to the customer and make sure
they’re taken care of,” he says.
Edquist knew his product, but he didn’t know franchising. “I’m not a typical franchisee,” he says. “The
franchise world had never come across my radar screen.
I’ve learned quite a bit about it in the past 5 years.”
He also learned plenty about his business. “I thought
I knew a lot about the appliance business, but Sears
knew a lot more,” he says, especially about logistics,
marketing, and personnel—as well as buying power.

“I’ve done all of those things well over the past 50
years, but Sears does them better,” he says.
“They take away some of the heavy lifting. When
I was in the business, we did our own buying, service,
advertising, etc. Most of this is done by Sears,” he says.
“We could never have gotten to the size we are now
without the kind of expertise Sears has. They certainly
have taken a lot of the work away.”
With Sears handling the essentials, Edquist has more
time to work on the business. “I spend a great deal of
time with my Sears people in the stores,” he says. “I
manage and lead by walking around in those stores,
making sure the little details are taken care of.”
For Edquist, the people factor has been the big difference in his rapid growth and success. “Personnel has
been key to this whole thing. Sears trains them better,
which is a benefit for the customer.”
Still, when he acquired those three company stores
in Phoenix he wondered why the
employees would want to work
for him, instead of a big company.
Several reasons, as it turned out:
“They do better financially, they’re
treated better, and they have a
better opportunity for movement
up,” says Edquist. In fact, he adds,
“Two of my managers own their
own stores today, and that makes
me feel pretty darn good!”
As of November 1, 2014, Sears
Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc.
and its dealers and franchisees operated 1,257 stores across all 50
states as well as in Puerto Rico and
Bermuda. Many of those early franchisees were large
multi-unit franchisees, primarily in the restaurant business—and Edquist appreciates their expertise.
“Having the key franchise people we do is making
us better. If you have somebody who has 50 to 70 franchise stores in the food business, they can teach you
a lot about franchising, which makes us all better,” he
says. “I consider myself a pretty lucky guy being able
to work with them.”
Final thoughts
“This is not an investment, not a get-rich-quick scheme.
You have to work at it,” says Edquist. “It’s a great partnership. I wish I could have started into this 20 years
ago. I’ve spent a lot of time in business and had a lot
of fun, but this is the most fun I’ve ever had in business,” he says.
“The sky is the limit—even for me, nearly 71. We
have 11 stores in major markets,” he says. “I cannot see
how I ever would have been this size as an independent
retailer in Omaha.” Plus the winter golf’s a lot better
in Arizona and Nevada.

ARTICLE SPONSORED BY SEARS HOMETOWN AND OUTLET STORES

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