Retail Store "Hall Of Fame"

[cabinetman]

If there is a retail store "Hall Of Fame", I vote for Sears. In the early 50's, Sears Roebuck sold a car (Allstate), right in the store. That sort of broadens the conception of "general merchandise".

I can't think of another retail chain that has been so diversified for so long. Sears Roebuck/Sears has been a household name. With all the corporate buy outs I hope they leave the stores as is. Somehow seeing Craftsman tools sold in KMart makes me a bit sad.
.

[crokett]

Walmart sells a bit of everything, except cars. Although you might be able to get them through Sam's Club. Costco sells everything, including cars and at least in its location here keeps a few cars parked outside the doors. They just haven't been around as long as Sears.

[cgallery]

And here I was thinking Allstate was an insurance company.

[LinuxRandal]

Well the old joke about the new guy making one (large) sale, to a guy whose weekend was shot, had to be based on some store.

[Whaler]

It is a shame that Sears is not the same store that it used to be.

[germdoc]

In the 40's or 50's they bought the Harmony guitar company, at the time the largest seller of guitars in the US, and sold Silvertone guitars through their stores. I myself had one when I was a kid.

It was the only store in Chattanooga that had an escalator when I was growing up...

[Alex Franke]

If there is a retail store "Hall Of Fame", I vote for Sears. In the early 50's, Sears Roebuck sold a car (Allstate), right in the store. That sort of broadens the conception of "general merchandise".

The also sold whole houses. The "kit" would be shipped by rail to be assembled on site. A friend of mine up in Virginia had one.

[Bruce Cohen]

What I really miss is their catalogs, toilet paper just doesn't have any of the drama.

Bruce

[Mr__Bill]

Lets not forget that they sold houses too. It came in a boxcar and some assembly was necessary. That and at one time I expect that they were one of the worlds largest supplier of toilet paper and outhouse reading matter. My father said that the only glossy pages were the harness section and you reached it about mid-winter, cruel irony.

Yes, there are a number of stores today that do sell a wide variety of merchandise, but I don't think that they have as diverse a selection as Sears had nor do they have the impact on life, especially rural America as Sears and Roebuck had. Today, I think Amazon has the impact on society that Sears and Roebuck had in their heyday. Just like Amazon today, then everyone had a Sears and Roebuck catalog and everyone ordered from it from the comfort of their own home.

Bill
i wonder did sears ever have mail-order brides?

[tommyt654]

As I recall in the late 60,s and 70,s Montgomery Wards also sold motorcycles in their store, I know I bought one of the dirt bikes for like $500, But for the life of me I can,t remember the brand name, It was a piece of junk, but I learned a lot on it before it self-destructed, Then I bought a C-Z and the rest is history.

[tommyt654]

Well, That didn,t take me long pulled out the old scrapbook and found a pic of me on it jumping some whoop-de-doos and brought back my memory(fading rapidly nowadays must get out more), It was a Mojave 360 or 380, Italian made junk bike that I literally ran into the ground, Monkey Wards sold a lot of different things back then I think they were Sears-Roebucks main competition back then

[Hoover]

As I recall in the late 60,s and 70,s Montgomery Wards also sold motorcycles in their store, I know I bought one of the dirt bikes for like $500, But for the life of me I can,t remember the brand name, It was a piece of junk, but I learned a lot on it before it self-destructed, Then I bought a C-Z and the rest is history.

I believe their brand was the "Riverside". I gave my grandson a Riverside minibike, funny thing someone who had the bike before me put a Sears motor on it.

[Daryl]

I remember the local Montgomery Wards had a pet shop, sold bears and monkeys along with the dogs and cats. Probably other exotics there too, just a long time ago.

[Bruce Cohen]

Sears also sold rifles, shotguns and ammo, don't think they sold pistols here in NY.

Bruce

[eezlock]

retail store " Hall of Fame"

Sears and Roebuck used to be, at least in the '50's and '60's, a type of store
that adopted the slogan ..." if we don't have it, you don't need it!" They had
just about anything / everything that most people around here needed
or wanted.