I remember getting family photos at Sears during the holidays. All those cheese backgrounds and cheap props. That was big time back then though.
Christmas shopping at Sears 1982
- Thread starter Malo83
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The big ones were obviously Sears, JC Penney, and Montgomery Wards. We had local stores so we never shopped from the catalog. Sears also had these large urban stores in the Bay Area. Like the one on Telegraph Ave in Oakland or in San Francisco.
But the ones I remember best were Consumers Distributing and Best Products. Also Service Merchandise, but those weren't common in my area until the 90s. Best was a little bit different in that they did have a showroom, but often it was just a sample and the items for sale had to be retrieved from the back. At these catalog stores, a customer would fill out a form and an employee would physically go back and see if the item was in stock. This was before reliable real time inventory.
Best had some interesting architecture, but only at a few stores.
But the ones I remember best were Consumers Distributing and Best Products. Also Service Merchandise, but those weren't common in my area until the 90s. Best was a little bit different in that they did have a showroom, but often it was just a sample and the items for sale had to be retrieved from the back. At these catalog stores, a customer would fill out a form and an employee would physically go back and see if the item was in stock. This was before reliable real time inventory.
Best had some interesting architecture, but only at a few stores.
I have a glenfield 30-30. I was told that it was sold from a Sears or jc Penny's back then.Picked up a 12ga Remington shotgun when I worked there part time.
Worked at Milwaukee Public Library from 1967-72. They had a basement level with nothing but every single catalog from Sears, Wards, Spiegel and Penney from the 19th century on. That plus every TV Guide from the gitgo. Visited this summer and it's still down there.
Absolutely. They also could have still dominated retail.
IMHO the first mistake was getting rid of the huge candy/nut/snack counter. That was a huge attraction for selling kids clothes. "Be good and you get a snack after". It was a great loss leader to get people in the store
The second was getting rid of the Christmas catalog. That was huge and would have aided an online presence.
Third downfall was offshoring/killing the quality of, the craftsman line. Harbor Freight is now filling that void with the Icon line.
I remember my mom telling me to circle stuff in the Christmas catalog that I was interested in. I still have a Sears .22 bolt action that my dad had purchased years ago.
wemay
Site Donor 2023
Great memories for me as well. O couldn't wait to receive the catalog in the mail, thumb to the back and gawk at the toy section.
I was at Homes Depot a few weeks ago and they had a sea of plastic Christmas trees set up.
Probably 80x120ft, solid with dozens and dozens of trees.
I almost laughed when my dog pee'd on one. Enough trees it was making me want to grab the chainsaw from my truck and get some saw logs!
(Obviously stopped him as soon as I noticed and got a worker to bring stuff so I could clean it, I'm not a nassty hog)
Brings back a lot of memories, Kenmore washer/dryers, big bulky microwaves, ATARI computers.
Some of those washers are probably still working.
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
My first shotgun was from Kmart, single shot 20 gauge, bought sometime in the 1970s. It is the only item I still have from you youth.Picked up a 12ga Remington shotgun when I worked there part time.
I have great memories from Sears. Always got clothes there as a kid and video games. After my grandpa retired from the air force (ww2,Korea) think he did 20 years or so at sears. If I remember correctly they even gave a pension back then. Being I was born im the 80s I don’t recall seeing sears with a firearms dept.
There is a huge old Sears distribution center you can see off 270 between I-70 and W Broad in Columbus, OH. Sears spent the money to air condition the complex seeing the cooling towers on the roof.
The Sears warehouse down the road from us, was picked up by a furniture company.
www.bakersfield.com
Former Sears warehouse in Delano will become home to 100 new distribution jobs
A former Sears warehouse in Delano has been purchased by a furniture and bedding company that plans to reuse the 1.2 million-square-foot building as a distribution center employing about 100
I find it amusing that people now complain about how Amazon has taken over and has squeezed out the small stores. And, yes, that is true. However, Sears (and Monkey Wards) had a much bigger presence decades ago than what Amazon has now. A couple of examples:
When my mom was a small child, her dad ordered a complete house through Sears. All of the lumber to build the house came in by train and was then loaded on trucks to deliver to the build site. In other words, none of the lumber for the house was sold through a local lumber yard. All the boards were pre-cut and instructions told you how to put it together. The advertising clearly said that if you wanted to use a saw to cut a board, you weren't putting the board in the right place. That house is still standing today and it sits about 10 miles from where I'm sitting now. You could also order just about anything else you wanted or ever needed.
Here's another item shown that came from a 1938 Sears big catalog. And here's the item in real life, a 1938 Graham Bradley tractor. This tractor is owned by my wife. (Sorry for the decapitation, Honey!)
When my mom was a small child, her dad ordered a complete house through Sears. All of the lumber to build the house came in by train and was then loaded on trucks to deliver to the build site. In other words, none of the lumber for the house was sold through a local lumber yard. All the boards were pre-cut and instructions told you how to put it together. The advertising clearly said that if you wanted to use a saw to cut a board, you weren't putting the board in the right place. That house is still standing today and it sits about 10 miles from where I'm sitting now. You could also order just about anything else you wanted or ever needed.
Here's another item shown that came from a 1938 Sears big catalog. And here's the item in real life, a 1938 Graham Bradley tractor. This tractor is owned by my wife. (Sorry for the decapitation, Honey!)
Attachments
Sears didn't make a single thing though. They bought from suppliers - pretty much all of the major US appliance manufacturers. I think their Craftsman tools might have a trademark for their unique shape and they definitely had contractors make tools to their specifications.
Kenmore Manufacturer Codes
Listing of Kenmore Manufacturer Codes by Uncle Harry
rakerappliancerepair.com
I knew someone who worked at one of Sears suppliers (a company called DeSoto) for detergents and paint. Could get lots of that stuff at discount.
The Sears @ Corbin's Corner in West Hartford had lawn tractors, appliances and tools in the basement. The place had the exact same smell in the late 80s as it did in the 1960s; not a bad or good smell, just a "tool smell" It literally send me back 25 years when i walked in and took a wiff.
I worked part time at Sears in Port Arthur TX from 1979 - 1984. So many memories seeing that video. Incidentally the Atari cartridge's were probably the highest theft items in the store. That, or Craftsman tools.
