Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores (SHOS) confused both journalists and readers Monday when it announced and then immediately withdrew franchise opportunities.

The press release announces that franchise opportunities are now available for Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, and gives an example of a franchised store opened in Houston, Texas.

“It’s not often that you get to own your own business with Sears on the outside of the building, so when the franchise opportunity arose, I jumped on it,” Stephen Stark, a Sears franchise owner says in the press release.

The press release then goes on to talk about all the advantages that a Sears Hometown and Outlet Store would bring to entrepreneurs.

Following this press release was a second one that advised journalists and readers to ignore the first press release.

No further explanation was given as to why the first press release should be disregarded.