Alas, Poor Sears-Roebuck I Knew Them Y’all

My heart grew a little heavy today with the news that Sears may be going through liquidation and possibly closing for good.  I can scarcely remember a time when there wasn’t a Sears store in every city where there was a strip-center or mall.  Many times, during my formative years, I was dragged through a Sears, Roebuck store by my mother.

And as a child, I can remember that monstrous catalogue that arrived by mail seemingly every other month (I believe it was an annual thing, just seemed more often).  That catalogue was amazing, you could order everything from food to underwear, guitars to lawnmowers, even a house!  You always looked forward to getting that book (over 500 pages), and just sitting with it, marveling at page after page of everything under the sun that Sears use to sell.

In my youth, Sears stores were generally single-story standalone structures.  The stores were department stores, as each type of product had its own distinctive labeling, for example; Craftsmen tools always had a giant wrench standing at the head of the department.  There was no mistaking the Kenmore department with aisle after aisle of clothes washers and dryers (kind of reminded you of an auto dealer lot).

Amongst their many departments was the coolest candy and snack center ever.  It always had fresh popcorn being made right in the center of it, which attracted everyone.  It seemed like there was an endless supply of jars that had every candy you could possibly want in them.  I am sure that Sears can be credited with the first point-of-purchase display that ensnared every adult via their children.

And toys? Oh man, Sears had the coolest toy department in the world.  Besides all the usual higher profile toys, Sears always had these basket shelves of toys.  The invention of plastic was not lost on Sears, they had every injection molded plastic toy ever made (before everything had China stamped on it).  As I remember it, they were the first to have a space where you could drive the kid size electric car.

I usually don’t mention stores by name in this blog, but I think this is one occasion when I would like to share my sentiment on possibly losing the “King of Retail Stores”.  There were other great stores: Kresge’s, Montgomery (Monkey) Ward, and W. T. Grants, but none of them could hold a candle to the wonder of Sears!

Talk to Ya Later

The Grumpy Old Fart Customer @2018 All rights Reserved