MOSES LAKE — While long-troubled, Chicago-based retailing behemoth Sears has finally filed for bankruptcy, spin-off Sears Hometown and Outlet is quick to remind folks that company is still healthy and solvent and in business for the long term.

“Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc. has not filed for bankruptcy and is not part of today’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Sears Holdings Corporation,” said a news release from Sears Hometown and Outlet.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores (Nasdaq:SHOS) is an entirely different company that was spun-off from its parent firm in 2012, and sells large appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, washers and dryers, tools and lawnmowers from more than 750 retail outlets across the United States.

The Sears Hometown store on South Division Street in downtown Moses Lake was recently purchased by longtime Moses Lake resident and businessman Brad Evers.

“Our dealers are independent business owners who are actively involved in their businesses and their communities,” the Sears Hometown news release said.

A venerable retailer and a longtime fixture in American life, Sears Holdings (Nasdaq:SHLD) reported a loss of over $500 million for the company second quarter of 2018, and filed for bankruptcy protection this week, heralding an end to more than a century of catalog and store sales in the United States.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.