American Freight Appliances & Furniture, or American Freight, is a soon-to-be-defunct American retail furniture chain founded in Lima, Ohio 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 opened a Sears Surplus store in Kansas City. 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.
In 2012, parent Sears Holdings 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.[4][5] At the time of the separation, there were 122 Sears Outlet Stores in operation.[6][7]
Sears Outlet logo
The company partnered with the National Volunteer Fire Council in November 2013 to raise money for local fire departments.[8] The objective of the campaign was to provide firehouses with funds to improve resources for training, equipment, and financial support.[8]
When former parent Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 15, 2018, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores was not affected due to having been spun off from Sears since 2012.[9]
In April 2019, it was announced that TransformCo would acquire the company.[10][11] 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 a few months earlier.[12][13][14]
In June 2019, it was announced that TransformCo would acquire the remaining shares in the company.[15] 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.[16] At the time of the announcement, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores had 491 Hometown stores and 126 Outlet stores in 49 states, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.[17]
In August 2019, Franchise Group, Inc., the parent of Liberty Tax, announced plans to acquire the Sears Outlet division from Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores,[18] and on October 23, 2019, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores completed its sale of Sears Outlet division to Franchise Group.[19] TransformCo completed the acquisition of the remainder of Sears Hometown at the end of the same business day.[20]
American Freight
Original American Freight logo and tagline
The first American Freight store was founded by Steve Belford in Lima, Ohio in 1994 as American Freight Furniture & Mattress.[21]
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.[22]
The company was acquired by Franchise Group for US$450M[3] on February 14, 2020, and combined with the former Sears Outlets under the brand American Freight Furniture, Mattress, Appliance.[23]
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. [24] 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 to close by the end of the year.[25]
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.[26]
