When the Sears Catalog Sold Everything from Houses to Hubcaps
Sears, Roebuck and Co. is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck
with what began as a mail ordering catalog company migrating to opening retail locations in 1925, the first in Chicago.
Before the Sears catalog, farmers near small rural towns usually purchased supplies, often at high prices and on credit, from local general stores with narrow selections of goods. Prices were negotiated and relied on the storekeeper’s estimate of a customer’s creditworthiness. Sears built an opposite business model by offering in their catalogs a larger selection of products at published prices.
Sears retail stores were pioneering and broke the conventions of the time in three ways: their location away from central shopping districts innovative store design and unconventional product mix and retailing practices.
Sears was also a pioneer in creating department stores that catered to men and women. The stores included hardware and building materials. It de-emphasized the latest clothing fashions in favor of practical and durable clothing and allowed customers to select goods without the aid of a clerk.
the Sears catalog was a vital retail alternative to local white-population-dominated stores, bypassing the stores’ frequent intention to deny them fair access to their merchandise.
Sears literally dominated the rural retail market through its huge catalog soon after the activity was born.
The 130-year-old mass merchandiser that was once the largest retailer in the United States is a interlaced part of American society:
Sears fashion brought the rise of modern American consumer culture!
The reason why was because the chain proposed on sale dependable staples such as socks and underwear and sheets and towels, rather than fashion items like those found in traditional department stores.
In the 1950s, Sears had opened more than 700 stores in the United States, and had expanded into Mexico and Canada, where it joined forces with a Canadian mail-order company and became Simpson-Sears.
Sears reached its pinnacle in the 1970s: in 1974 they built the 110-story Sears Towerin Chicago, which became the world’s tallest building.
In the 1980s, the company began to diversify into non-retail entities such as buying Dean Witterand Coldwell Banker and continued in the 1990s which were detrimental to its bottom line.
They were eventually acquired by Kmart in 2005. After facing banktupsy today the company is still operates a few locations Although the organization is clearly a shadow of its former self.
