The Sears Roebuck store at the Nittany Mall reports record business following the department store chain's shift in pricing policy.

However, local competitors say the customers crowding Sears stores are regular Sears customers, not new customers lured away from other stores by the Chicago-based company's recent changes.

Local Sears manager Jack Tolby compared the initial reaction to a holiday sale weekend. The first two weeks of March 1989 have seen double-digit increases in total sales figures over the same period last year, Tolby said, with the store's home entertainment department doubling volume.

"Most departments showed a dramatic increase over a year ago," he said.

The number of transactions at the store was about 40 percent higher than last year, Tolby said, suggesting an increase in traffic at the store. The first three days of the pricing policy change, during spring break, reached holiday season sales levels, he said.

"What we want to do now is sustain this growth, which I think we will do as more people can compare prices and see that we are more competitive," Tolby said.

Managers at two other Nittany Mall department stores -- Danks and Hess's -- said the change brought increased traffic into their stores as well as Sears.

"The advertising they're doing draws people in to take a look," said Dank's manager George Morgan. "It draws additional traffic to the mall. Sure we're benefitting."

Hess' manager Dave Gummo said other factors such as improved weather and mall construction may have helped sales.

Managers at Hills Department Store, located at 2121 S. Atherton St., and K mart Department Store, 100 Valley Vista Drive, said the change would not affect their stores because of a different customer base.

"The pricing is going to take quite a while to build any more clientele," K mart store manager Tom Verbeck said, though Sears' shift to name brands could eventually give it new business.

Verbeck said the new prices should be comparable to Sears' former sale prices, which trade magazines say have traditionally produced a large percentage of Sears' business.

"It's not new competition. All the hoopla makes it seem to be new," he said.

Sears Roebuck and Co. Media Relations Consultant Mary Jean Hood said the changes were based on customer preference surveys.

"It allows them to shop at our best price every day," she said. "People with time at a premium don't have to wait for a sale and our customers are assured of fair prices every day."

Before the change took place, Hood said, customers often planned purchases around sale advertisements.

"Now they can shop regularly or according to need," she said.

Prices have been lowered on 50,000 items -- about 75 percent of Sears' merchandise, Hood said. Sears also pledges to match or beat prices in competitors' sale ads, she said.

Though the new prices are more competitive with discount chains, Hood said Sears is "careful to separate ourselves from discount retailers." The chain will stress reputation, credit policies and guarantees as well as price, she said.

K mart Corporation Marketing Coordinator Teri Kuba said the discounter has also reacted to market changes. The increasing tendency toward home entertainment and "back-to-basics lifestyles" has led K mart to expand lines in such areas as home entertainment, home decorating and sporting goods, she said.

K-mart also has attempted to position itself as a "lifestyle retailer," with customers shopping in all areas of the store rather than looking only for a few specific items, Kuba said.

Tolby said Sears will still advertise heavily but would shift to specialized "power format" areas, especially home entertainment, which has recently expanded. The first 90 days of the change will also bring heavy advertising to make customers aware of the change, he said.

The change came at the right time for the local Sears store because of current mall expansion which will bring more customers into the entire mall and growth in the State College area, Tolby said.

Tolby said the change was risky but important in preserving the store's market share.

"If we're wrong, we're in big trouble," he said. "If we're right, we'll grow into a powerful retail force." Tolby said the answer to that question could take months to find.