American Freight Appliances & Furniture, or American Freight, is an American retail

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

chain founded in

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in Allen County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,579. It is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75, appr ...

in 1994. The company was acquired in 2020 by Franchise Group and combined with former Sears Surplus and Sears Outlet stores under the American Freight name.

History

Sears Surplus and Sears Outlet

In 1968,

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

opened a Sears Surplus store in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

. This was the first of its kind operated by the Sears brand. In 1987, the Surplus stores were renamed to Sears Outlet. In 2008, Apparel was introduced to stores and served as a liquidation outlet for

Lands' End Lands' End, Inc., headquartered in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, is a retailer of clothing, baggage, and furniture. In fiscal 2023, 63.2% of its revenue was from online retail orders in the U.S., 7.7% of revenue was international orders, 18.3% of re ...

. In 2012, parent

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

spun off Sears Outlet along with Sears (Authorized) Hometown Stores, Sears Home Appliance and Showroom Stores, and Sears Appliance and Hardware Stores to form Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc (SHOS). The new company became its own independent, publicly traded company listed on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

. At the time of the separation, there were 122 Sears Outlet Stores in operation. Sears_Outlet_logo

The company partnered with the

National Volunteer Fire Council The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) is the leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership association representing the interests of the volunteer fire, EMS, and rescue services. Founded in 1976, the NVFC serves as the voice of the volunteer in the n ...

in November 2013 to raise money for local fire departments. The objective of the campaign was to provide firehouses with funds to improve resources for training, equipment, and financial support. When former parent Sears Holdings filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wh ...

on October 15, 2018, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores was not affected due to having been spun off from Sears since 2012. In April 2019, it was announced that

TransformCo Transform SR Brands LLC (doing business as TransformCo, referred to as "New Sears") is an American privately held company formed on February 11, 2019, to acquire some of the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation. The new company is owned by ESL ...

would acquire the company. However it was reported a few days later that Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores acquisition offer was rejected, and as a result Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores could have faced liquidation, similarly to Sears Holdings but which was acquired by

ESL Investments ESL Investments is a privately held hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut. History ESL Investments is managed by Edward Lampert, who founded it in April 1988 and named it after his initials. The firm invests in the American public equity ...

a few months earlier. In June 2019, it was announced that TransformCo would acquire the remaining shares in the company. Under the terms of the new merger agreement, Sears Hometown was given a specified period of time to market and sell its Sears Outlet and Buddy's Home Furnishing Stores businesses (together, the "Outlet Segment") to a third party for not less than $97.5 million. If the Outlet Segment is sold in accordance with the terms, it would not be acquired by Transform in the acquisition of Sears Hometown. At the time of the announcement, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores had 491 Hometown stores and 126 Outlet stores in 49 states,

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. In August 2019, Franchise Group, Inc., the parent of

Liberty Tax Liberty Tax, is a chain of franchise and company-owned locations that provide tax preparation services. It is known for its wavers, people in Statue of Liberty costumes and Uncle Sam costumes, used as a form of guerrilla marketing. It is the thi ...

, announced plans to acquire the Sears Outlet division from Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, and on October 23, 2019, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores completed its sale of Sears Outlet division to Franchise Group. TransformCo completed the acquisition of the remainder of Sears Hometown at the end of the same business day.

American Freight

The first American Freight store was founded by Steve Belford in

in 1994 as American Freight Furniture & Mattress. By 2014, the company was operating 95 stores in 18 states, and October that year was acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm The Jordan Company of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The company was acquired by Franchise Group for US$450M on February 14, 2020, and combined with the former Sears Outlets under the brand American Freight Furniture, Mattress, Appliance. On November 2, 2024, Franchise Group announced that they were preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after months of losses and turmoil caused by its owner, B. Riley Financial. On November 3, 2024, Franchise Group and all of its affiliated subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. The company plans to keep all of its brands open during the procedure, omit American Freight. The company suffered major losses due to high rising costs and macroeconomic challenges. Liquidation sales began on November 5, with stores closing by the end of the year. However, in January 2025, a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the sale of up to 28 American Freight stores and one distribution center to AF Newco I LLC. 2 additional locations were also included in the sale, but were eventually withheld due to possible state law issues. AF Newco I LLC plans to reopen the 28 locations and distribution center later into 2025.

Awards

* Customer Engagement award from the online publication Retail TouchPoints in 2014 for integration of in-store and online shopping experiences at Sears Outlet stores.

References

External links

* {{Sears Holdings Corporation Sears Holdings brands American brands Furniture retailers of the United States Retail companies of the United States American companies established in 1968 Retail companies established in 1968 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024