Money Stores

A one-stop financial center

"You Can Count on Sears," proudly claims America's largest retailer in its advertising. Until recently that slogan referred mainly to consumer goods like clothes, dishwashers or power tools available in its 859 stores. But customers may soon turn to Sears to buy a house or a share of stock or invest in a money-market fund. In two lightning moves last week, the company stepped boldly into one-stop financial shopping. First it offered about $180 million to buy Coldwell, Banker & Co., the biggest independent real estate broker in the U.S., and then it bid some $600 million for Dean Witter Reynolds, the fifth largest stockbroker.

Chairman Edward Telling said last month that Sears was making a "major long-term commitment to become a leading national provider of consumer financial services." The company has a big head start on that goal. Sears already owns Allstate, an $8.5 billion insurance company, and a $3 billion California savings and loan association, also called Allstate. Moreover, the firm has announced that by the end of this year it will begin soliciting the public for investments in a new money-market fund. This type of financial supermarket would be similar to those set up by Prudential Insurance, when it acquired Bache, or American Express, when it merged with Shearson Loeb Rhoades.

The move into financial services is part of a two-year effort by Telling to reorganize the 95-year-old company. He has shaken up management by eliminating layers of bureaucracy and inducing 1,500 executives to take early retirement.

The company's once-sickly retailing operation has rebounded and shaken off two years of declining profits. Retail sales in the five weeks ending Oct. 3 were up 9.3% over last year. But with little prospect for dramatic new growth in merchandising, Telling decided it was time to move decisively into financial services. qed

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