Former Tacoma Sears Outlet store will close amid second brand’s national shutdown

Debbie Cockrell
·2 min read
American Freight, in the 6th Avenue Plaza in Tacoma, is part of a national closure of the chain’s stores.

A Tacoma outlet store that was once tied to Sears and later subsumed by another brand is closing for good.

Hilco Consumer-Retail is handling the wind down of business for American Freight, a furniture chain that was merged with Sears Outlet in 2020. Hilco on Nov. 6 announced it had “commenced store closing sales” at all of American Freight’s 328 locations and online.

Included in the list of closures is the retailer’s lone Washington state site, at 5401 6th Ave. (6th Avenue Plaza) in Tacoma. The site was formerly a Sears Outlet before rebranding as American Freight.

A worker who answered the phone at the store told The News Tribune Monday that about seven people work at the store. He also said it was still unclear when the final day of operation would be.

According to Hilco, available items during closing sales include living room sets, bedroom furniture, dining tables and a selection of “scratch and dent and new in-box appliances, such as refrigerators, washers and dryers.”

The closures are the result of American’s Freight’s parent company, Franchise Group, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early November.

Franchise Group in February 2020 acquired the Sears Outlet Group, which it merged with its American Freight brand and continued under that name.

In a Digital Commerce 360 article in January of this year, executives touted investment in AI to boost product descriptions on American Freight’s online storefronts among other plans to “refresh” the brand. Peter Corsa, CEO of parent company Franchise Group’s home segment, estimated at the time that the chain had the potential to grow up to 1,000 locations, based on market studies.

Franchise Group’s other brands include Pet Supplies Plus, The Vitamin Shoppe and Buddy’s Home Furnishings. In a release Nov. 3, Franchise Group stated that it had chosen “to wind down American Freight, which has struggled due to sustained inflation and macroeconomic challenges facing the large durable goods sector.”