The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

The Sears store at 2264 MacArthur Drive is under new ownership with some familiar faces from Bridge City.

Russell and Mary Dillow, active for many years in education, local sports and St. Henry Catholic Church, raised their kids Tyson, Erin, Emily and Rani.

While Russell worked for Gulf Oil, later Chevron, Mary taught at Hatton and Sims schools, among others.

“That was our life,” Russell says. “We were content and happy ... when our kids were young we were involved in sports ... and involved in the community.”

Then Russell’s job moved to Houston. The couple bounced around for 10 years, ending up in Mont Belvieu when Russell decided to take early retirement.

“We haven’t been happy about living away,” Russell says. “We wanted to get back to our family, to where our friends were and what we’ve considered home all that time.”

The Orange Sears location is considered one of the line’s “hometown stores.”

“We’re independently owned and located away from the malls,” Russell says. The advantage to that is, Russell adds, is that, “When someone does business with Sears in Orange, they’re doing business we me personally.

“We sell anything Sears has to offer. Obviously our showroom is small. If [customers] saw something online or they saw something at [another store] they can come into my store and we can have it delivered to the store on directly to their home.

“When a customer comes into the store, we’re not limited to just what is on display. We talk to them about what is there, but really our focus is on trying to understand what their needs are.”

Recently hired as sales manager was Ellison “Sonny” Crew III, and as sales associate – Marcus Moore. Their start date is Aug. 2. Two familiar faces who have been with the store for some time and will continue are Roosevelt Roberts and Kristine Cortez.

To read more about the Orange Sears store online, go to http://www.searshometownstores.com/0003916.html for weekly deals and specials.

In fact the Dillows’ involvement is so new you’ll still see former owner Mike Woods’ picture on the site.

Facebook users can search for “Orange,” “Texas” and “Hometown Stores.”

For more information, call the Orange location at (409) 883-0800.