RETAILING

Sears Expects to Double Stores to 5,000 by End of Decade: Most of that growth will come from new Sears Hardware, HomeLife furniture, Parts America and other specialty stores, Chief Financial Officer Allen Lacey told investors at the Robertson, Stephens & Co. retail and consumer conference. Sears, Roebuck & Co., the second-largest U.S. retailer behind Wal-Mart Stores Inc., currently operates more than 800 Sears department stores and 1,500 free-standing stores located away from shopping malls. Last month, Sears said it would buy Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp., a chain of 60 hardware stores in California, for $415 million in cash and assumed debt. The company hopes to increase the number of its hardware stores to 560 by the end of the decade from about 240 at the end of this year, Lacey said. As for earnings, Lacey said the company expects “mid-teens EPS growth for the immediate future.”