AUBURN — Sears is coming back to Lewiston-Auburn in a smaller package.

Jeromy and Jennifer Hood of Turner plan to bring the massive retailer back to the community as a Sears Hometown Store.

Rather than the Lewiston Mall’s 80,000-square-foot anchor store, which closed a few days ago, customers looking for Kenmore appliances or Craftsman tools can go to the new, 5,000-square-foot store in Shaw’s Plaza in Auburn.

The new store will carry tools, lawn and garden equipment, appliances, mattresses and a few electronics, Jeromy Hood said. Other Sears products can be ordered at the store.

“It’s going to be smaller than the big store, but everything available through Sears holdings will be available through us,” Jennifer Hood said. “Items will be available through pickup at the store or shipped directly to the customer.”

The new store will open “soon,” her husband said. Contractors are working on the space, directly beside Day’s Jewelers.

It may also have a few familiar faces. Hood recently offered jobs to four workers from Sears’ Lewiston store, he said.

It felt like the right thing to do, he said. It also made good sense because they know the products and Sears’ methods.

Jennifer and Jeromy Hood will round out the staff.

The couple has spent time examining Hometown stores in Farmington and Center Conway, N.H.

“It’s a family-owned business,” Jeromy Hood said.

According to Sears’ website, there are more than 900 Hometown stores in the country. Each runs as a kind of consignment shop, with the local owners keeping a percentage of the sales.

dhartill@sunjournal.com