Coming Around Again: Sears To Relaunch Full-Service Beauty.(Sears Holdings Corp.)(Financial report)

Byline: Faye Brookman

Coming Around Again: Sears to Relaunch Full-Service Beauty

The beleaguered sears IS circling back into full-service beauty in a big way, following a costly and abrupt exit eight years ago.

Over the next two weekends, Sears Holdings Corp. will open 13 full-service beauty departments in select malls in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in an attempt to right a ship that's been listing for years. Sears Holdings lost $94 million in its most recent quarter.

Sears is the second major midtier national department store, following J.C. Penney, to reenter the beauty arena.

Sears has dipped in and out of cosmetics over the years, with the splashiest attempt being its Circle of Beauty concept that was yanked in 2001. Sears also was one of several midtier department stores slated to receive Avon's retail line, called BeComing, but the direct seller abandoned the effort in 2003.

This time, Sears is stocking a variety of price points in a department staffed with vendor-trained consultants who will earn commissions. Among the brands are drugstore staples, including L'OrA[c]al Paris and Cover Girl; a U.S. exclusive with Yves Rocher and Pure Organics, and a dash of prestige products, such as Calvin Klein color kits. An already well-developed fragrance department will be augmented with more direct-sourced prestige …