Sears responding to Penney and Kohl's, beefing up home furnishings

When you think of decorating your home, apartment or condo recently, which retailer do you think of first? Many choose Macy's, Nordstrom's (NYSE:JWN), J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) and even Target (NYSE:TGT). How about Sears? I'd be willing to bet that Sears does not top the "mindshare" list of retailers when home furnishing shopping trips are planned. The retailer, though, is hoping to change that.

Sears, held by Sears Holdings, Corp. (NASDAQ:SHLD), started trying to forge an image of being a place to shop for home furnishings a few years ago -- but in my opinion, the chain has had little progress at this time. A merger between itself and discount retailer Kmart mired its image with confusion for a while, but now the retailer is again trying to firmly plant a "hip" image to the home furnishings shopper. The furniture and decor offering at Sears at this point had dwindled to just a disconnected collection of offerings -- and it was not marketed in the right way. Ever looked in a recent Sears catalog? Ouch.

Discount retailer Target, on the other hand, had been re-building itself with very hip and chic designs. It is offering complete home furnishing solutions instead of tired, individual products. Target also brought in big names like Michael Graves, Philippe Starck, Isaac Mizrahi and Thomas O'Brien. Even designer Chris Madden lent her name to J.C. Penney's home collections of bedsheets, pillow cases and bedroom furnishings. In addition, Kmart continued to do endorsement business with Martha Stewart insofar as bedding and garden furniture.

What can Sears do to counteract this and actually grow its home furnishings business? If Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) and Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) stock downgrades are any indication, the slowdown in homebuying will continue further and may pinch the ability of Sears to re-invent that part of its business at this time. But there's always 2008 I guess.