Everything You Remember And Miss About…SEARS
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
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#recollectionroad #nostalgia #sears
When we were kids growing up, nothing and I mean NOTHING was more anticipated than the Sears Christmas catalog.
That was it! We spent so many hours with the dream catalogue. I still miss that excitement.
Oh yes oh baby how good it was and yah took all day to finish it.
Going through it circling everything you wanted while daydreaming about getting those things.
❤❤❤
Me and my cousins would go from the pantie section to toys.
I miss their giant catalog… It kept me entertained for hours, it was a kind of WISH BOOK.
Me too.
Teenage boys loved their catalog too back in the day lol
Yes me too. I also shopped from it and JCPenny
@@JustMe99999 oh yeah, I forgot about that… The bras and the panties on the young models lol.
They should have never stopped doing the catalog.
The Sears Wishbook was pure gold every year. I wore those catalogs out as a kid just coveting every page of toys.
As a child of the 70's and 80's. I can remember so many things in our home came from Sears. Back then appliances lasted 30, even 40 years , now you are lucky to get 5 years out of them.
You got that right! Kenmore was da bomb! I was lucky enough to get my hands on a barely used 1982 dishwasher for $20 and I’m never letting it go.
@@privatelyprivate3285 don't blame you, better than the new crap they have today.
@@privatelyprivate3285 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
@@saminaneen um, my comment was about dishwashers, NOT soapboxes from which to vent personal frustrations with unrelated social issues.
I can make the same claim, Just about EVERYTHING in our house (including major parts of the house itself) were ALL from Sears. But to be fair my mother worked for Sears, LOL. I still have her last Kenmore refrigerator that she bought in 1984! Prior to 1977 ALL Sears refrigerators were branded "Coldspot", a perfect name for such a device. It was also an appliance maker "in joke" as the appliance maker "Hotpoint" ALSO made refrigerators. (They STILL do, IIRC) And let's face it. "Hotpoint" might be a fine name for a stove, It's a dumb name for a fridge. Sears was literally mocking "Hotpoint". Corporate trolling 1930s-1970s style! LOL.
I remember all of this. I loved going to Sears with my family. We couldn’t afford anything but my dad always came through. By the time I grew up and realized how broke we were my father died before I could buy him some stuff that he could never afford . Life goes quick . Buy your dad something from his favorite store before it’s too late
Well said!!
😢
As crazy as it sounds, I always feel sad when a store I shopped at in my youth goes out of business. There's too many to count at this point. The stores of today have terrible, almost non-existent customer service. Sears was in every city, but now exists only in memory.
I lived on a dairy farm in Richfield Springs NY. I moved to Florida in 88 and never went back until 2010. Many of the family dairy farms were shut down and it was a blow to my heart to see that. Like part of your life was ripped out of you.
There's nothing crazy about that feeling as I get it, too. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, Sears, Montgomery Ward, and K-Mart were our go-to big purchase stores. Now, they're all gone. It is sad to see American institutions like those fade away.
@@glenmoss02 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
Yeah even if they still exist they are not a American owned company like what we grew up with
@@dangreene3895 👍👍There is NOTHING more ironically "American" in the convenience store game than "7-11". It's owned by a Japanese company...
My dads craftsman toolbox and tools sits in my garage to this day. Every time I use them, it's like he's there with me.
+1 on that. I still use my dad's tools and I can remember using those same tools to help him fix things. A few years back, my mom called me at work (she's passed on too) and said the neighbor next door (who is still alive at 90+ years old) was cleaning her garage and came across some, "old Craftsman tools" and "would your son be interested in them?" My mom told my neighbor to wait until I got home. My neighbor gave them to me and they were a full set of sockets from the 1960s and a ratchet. I told her, "These are worth money. Let me give you something for them." She held up her hand and said, "I'll never talk to you again if you give me money. My kids will sell them for 50 cents at a yard sale when I'm gone. Take them now". They sit in a 1968 Craftsman six drawer top chest in my garage that was rescued from the curb in 2003.
Same here!
I drive a street sweeper in a small metropolitan city we’ll call Begas. Every now and then I’ll come across that 10mm socket you’ve been missing. This morning about 2am, I found a fairly new Craftsman socket wrench laying in “the invisible porkchop”. Sometimes I get lucky and find a Snapon or Matco, but this morning I let out a WOOHOO when I learned it wasn’t harbor freight.
@@scottystiffchicken I spotted a few sockets on my way to work this morning. I'll have to wait until I'm stuck in traffic to grab them though. LOL.
Dad had a Power Sander (1970's) that did that left - right shake, but it had a lever at the base that you flipped and it would change to forward and backward sanding parallel to the handle, for finish sanding with the grain...to this day NOBODY has made one like it. I don't know what happened to it...he probably loaned it to somebody.
I worked for Sears from 1995 to 2005. What I miss the most is the staff. We really were like a family and when the store closed in 2005 it really was the end of an era.
I worked for Sears from 1998 through 2006. At the store I was in the associates were also like family. I remember once an associate who was in a blind, and we all contributed to help them. Where I work now, I am working with four other former Sears associates who used to work with me. We still treat each other like family.
@@ericknoblauch9195 that's wonderful! I think there really is a special bond with Sears employees it's like you bring out the best in each other.
I worked there 1984-86. Wish I hadn’t quit so early. The people I worked with were great.
@@irvan36mm I wish I stayed longer at Sears as well 2005-2006. I worked at a repair center where all the mowers and other power tools were serviced. Best job I ever had,and a great crew of coworkers.
Good Lord, did you live in a cardboard box?
As a lot of other people have already chimed in, from silent generation thru baby boomers to Gen x , we appreciate the weekly walk down memory lane. Even if it brings a tear 😢 or two.
*Thanks for the ⬆️ votes!
At least you were lucky enough to live during that time 🥲
Sad it is.
@@HeatherB81 yes, it was an amazing time to grow up! I got to learn straight from the mouths of the GREATEST GENERATION (my grandparents), I was raised by the silent generation (and my parents never divorced so no 2 homes for me)and I married a baby boomer. I'm Gen X by the way. I was born in 1968 and my husband in 1961. We have been married for 23 years and going strong. I think I got to learn the best of every generation (and learn not to do the worst)
@@jackbean7195 it is sad when I think of all that will never be again!
Yes, that it does 😢
Sears is forever stamped in my memory as a boy growing up in the 60's and 70's. Some of the best days as far as I'm concerned were trips to Sears stores. It is bittersweet as my grandchildren will not be able to have experienced this part of Americana that I was blessed to grow up with.
Not only could you buy everything for your household at Sears, you could also buy a house! My grandmother’s house was bought at Sears and is still lived in today. I have a Kenmore dryer that is still going strong after 25 years. Sad that the day of the big department stores have gone.
Is it one of those Sears kit homes? I just think those are really cool.😊
In the town I live in there are still 2 Sears homes standing tall! One of them just went up for sale and has been sold my husband and I plan on buying a house within the next 6 months and I was soooo hoping it didn’t sell because I wanted to buy it so bad!!!! The pictures on the inside look exactly the same as it did when I used to go with my Mom to visit a friend of hers who owned it back in the 70’s and 80’s.
Ive visited a few of those houses was quite impressed! Wouldn’t mind one of my own at all!
@@shannon_w. I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
@@privatelyprivate3285 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
At Christmas time Sears was magical to a kid. The Wish Book meant so much to us kids.
I’m 71 years old. When I was in junior high school the teacher asked, what store sells $1 million worth of merchandise every day? I was the only one who raised her hand because I knew the answer was Sears!
@charlenemack7040 I'm 71 years old as well. Born prematurely. Mom had to buy doll clothes from the Sears
catalog, since nothing fit me.
I’m 66 and remember that absolutely everyone bought most everything at Sears. Much like Walmart today. Sears I miss you!
You were extra smart.
“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” - L.P. Hartley
These videos prove that statement. Thank you for them.
In 1973 Sears came out with a 50 year anniversary reprint of their 1923 catalog. I still have it to this day, and it's priceless to me because my grandfather signed his name on the inside. I love to pull it out every now and then to check out all of the neat merchandise and low prices.
It's so awesome that you still have that!
I have a reprint somewhere, but it might be an older one.. I'd have to look ,1909 maybe?
I remember that. It's the one I looked at to see my 4 year old selves wishes.
I looked at the prices you mention out of curiosity and I found every single product to be a lot cheaper today, that's with the inflation adjusted for accuracy. Everything is cheaper in 2023. I was shocked, because we keep complaining about how expensive everything is today, but we are wrong. I couldn't find one product that was cheaper in 1973.
WOW! What a treasure to have ☺️
I still live on the very rural farm where I grew up the last 70 years and in the small town near where I live where I attended school, there is a very large two story house with an elevator in it that was bought from a Sears catalog in the 1930s and was delivered by rail and assembled in large pieces where it now sits. I have seen several other homes from the Sears catalog, and they are all very impressive.
The house that sits directly behind me is a Sears catalog house. Completely original. The house three doors down is likely also a Sears catalog house but needs verification.
Makes me want to go back in time in a time machine.
Me too, I'm all in if someone could build one. 🚀
hey, I'm building a hot tub time machine. whenever i get it finished i'll let you know ! I'm 65 so i gotta hurry!! lol
Truth
@@halbud 😂😂😂
Back when you actually TALKED to someone on a phone, not just texted, and a phone was exactly that -- a phone, not a hand-held computer, camera, etc. The technology was simple: You lifted the receiver, dialed the number, spoke to the party and hung up after the conversation was over. None of this having to guess which button to press to do whatever. And you didn't walk everywhere with it, oblivious of your surroundings, no longer making eye contact with anyone. Is it really any wonder today's world is so messed up?
America would be so much better if, we could go back to this time. Great video.
Sears was the ultimate! My family had a Kenmore washer and dryer, and sewing machine that lasted Forever! They don't make products that last like that anymore. What a great trip down memory lane!
Recollection Road, your videos are awesome. They make me cry for a past we will never see again.
I love you recollection road.
Me too.
Even from 1990!to 2023 has changed Soo much. Everything is fast turning digital. It's crazy. Our kids and youth can barely write, do Math, or write cursive. Now, many Elementary Education classes are skipping US History and the US Constitution lessons. Trying to teach morals without the Ten Commandments is useless. No wonder kids and youth are so messed up today. They don't even know who they are or where they came from!
I miss sears.😢
Me too.
Same here, great memories back then growing up. Miss those days now more than ever before.🤔
So sad to see these wonderful stores disappear one by one...😢
Now Walmart with all Chinese disposable junk.
My parents always went to Sears. Honestly I've missed Sears that feels like some part of my childhood growing up.
Oh my gosh, this brings back all the memories. We did most of our shopping at Sears back in the 70s. I remember getting school clothes there, especially the Toughskins. All of the appliances in our house were Kenmore (avocado green), our bean bags, swing set and my dad's Craftsman tools. Good times.
I worked at Sears for their last 10 years in Canada. It was so sad to see this once majestic brand fall so far. It had been a part of my life as long as I can remember. The Wish Book was always my favorite thing and I would spend hours poring over it's pages just to dream of all the things I wanted. Had they taken the catalog and went full bore into the online shopping model, I'm 100% positive they would still be around. They did have one of the first online shopping sites but they didn't put much effort into it and Amazon burst in and stole their thunder. Sears will always hold a special place in my memories though.
Yea, they even had telephone ordering as an alternative to mail-in. It would have been a natural to go on-line.
I'm sure 😢
Fully agree.
@@JohnDlugosz Yes, I used to work in the phone room at one of the stores. Once you hit Black Friday, the phone calls were practically non-stop.
I love the idea 💡 of American brands in Canada 🇨🇦. 🇨🇦.
Being a kid back then was the best time to be a kid, we got new school dressed from Sears and JCPenney. Great memories!🎉💕
My 5th Grade School photo was taken in an outfit Mom let me pick out, it was a Dark Green crushed velour Pants and Jacket with a yellow shirt.
Sears at Christmas! No other store did it as well. Gives me chills just thinking about it
Yes. Layaway was big thing in my family for xmas. Always going to Sears to put the money on layaway😅
I would memorize the Wish book! Miss the store 😕
@@lorinasr7910 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
Sears, Montgomery Wards and Spiegel catalogs were all fascinating while I was growing up. We also shopped a lot at J.C. Penneys. That's another one that went out of business.
Who remembers Walker-Scott?
1966 my dad got a teaching position at a new community college. We left Mississippi and moved to Alabama for his job. The first thing we did was go to Sears and bought all new furniture and appliances. I was 10 then and when I was 35 the big old refrigerator was still going strong!
Being a carpenter I have worked on some of the older homes that Sears sold at one time. Yes you once could order a house from Sears & Roebuck.
some assembly required... lol
I lived in one.😊
My son's mother lives in a Sears home, it was built in 1910.
Sears WAS America!
We had only Kenmore appliances (refrigerator, washer, and dryer), my father had our cars serviced at the Auto Center, bought Craftsman tools (I have his hammer! 🥰), my sister and I had our back to school clothes from Sears, and yes, we both fought over the giant WISH BOOK at Christmas! 🤗
I miss those simpler times when life was fun, before the internet, and Amazon made shopping generic and impersonal like today.
Sears... you are not forgotten! 😊
I bet Sears must have been cool in the 60s and 70s where someone could reasonably make working retail a good career and be rewarded for his/her good work and get benefits and retirement. Probably the workers took pride in their skill and service, too.
True. A colleague of mine sold appliances at Sears for years and made a good living doing it. Montgomery Ward was good too for management positions.
Yes totally. As a kid you looked up to and respected the staff. It was just a different time. Sadly.
Back when you could own a home and support a family while pumping gas. what the hell happened?
You could also buy the company stock (with a small discount) through payroll deduction
Yes, my uncle's neighbor worked there from 1953 to 1993 and bought the stock. Back then, he would meet yearly with the financial advisor the company had and he listened and bought the stock. It made him a fairly wealthy man and rightly so, because Sears eventually stripped his pension.
I have a Coldspot compact refrigerator which, as of this year, has been in near-continuous use since 1974. Still the coldest fridge I have ever used.
Another cherished memory on this beautiful sunny day . Thank you for all these wonderful videos . I end each one with tears in my eyes . Thankful I grew up in the 60’S and the 70’ s .
You were very lucky. I was born in 1981 😞
61 here Yes its missed@@HeatherB81
@@HeatherB81 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
@@Darren97381 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
It was a much more simple time, when men were men ,women were women, and that was the norm
My uncle's neighbor, who is still alive in his 90s, worked at Sears from 1953 to 1993 and was the reason many items in our house came from Sears. We'd go to Sears and see "Uncle Mike". I periodically call him and we'll talk about his time at Sears, which he remembers fondly (with no love loss for Mr. Lampert who was the reason he no longer has a pension with them).
I still have all of my Dad's Craftsman tools and mine that I bought new or used, including the first mechanic's tool set I bought in 1990. I still have the receipt, and it's 95% original and still working like new. It's paid for itself 100 times over in the things it's fixed over the 30+ years I've owned it.
In 1975, I went with my grandparents as a young kid to buy their Kenmore (made by Whirlpool under the "110" model prefix) washer and dryer at the local store. I remember it because we got pretzels at the counter and those machines lasted until well after my grandparents passed away. I sold the dryer in 2014 for what they paid for it in 1975, and the washer was only good for parts at that point (the tenants we had in the house ruined it, so we evicted them and I parted out the machine). Both machines were only fixed one time each, by me for $60 total in parts. I was well into my 30's when I fixed both of them. Even the end of cycle buzzer on the dryer still worked. I have no doubt it's probably still going strong, or if the person tossed it, they have no idea what they tossed as they are a breeze to fix and parts can still be easily had for them 45+ years later.
In 2019, I bought a dishwasher at the same local Sears about six months before they closed. It replaced a 1987 Kenmore (both the 1987 and 2019 were WLP made in the same plant in Findlay, OH) that I fixed about four times in 32 years---all minor repairs and all done by me. The only reason I didn't fix the 1987 machine was that the tub finally rotted out and it was not practical to repair it, so I parted it out, selling the good parts off of it and recycling the rest.
I have fond memories of Sears and I have items from there that will last me a lifetime. Such a bygone era.
Sears was an amazing store! I still have tools and other items that are OVER 40 years old.
Tool warranty lifetime is still honored .
Great video. You covered a lot. Sears most definitely was THE place for anything. When someone now compares Amazon to Sears they simply don’t understand Sears was selling AND SUPPORTING their own products. Not just a storefront for other retailer’s products, as Amazon is. I will never forgive Sears management nor Eddie Lampert for destroying an American legend and tens of thousands of jobs. American made was better
Well you can't blame me Amazon that is a nonsensical story handed to the population that frankly knows nothing of business and it requires you to ignore logic and fact.
So basically anybody who knows anything about Sears knows that Sears started out much the same way as Amazon the technology was different so they had to print a catalog but before they ever had a brick and mortar store they were a catalog company so there was a warehouse and they filled your order and sent it to you that was it.
Another reason you just can't go on blaming the internet is the simple fact that most of these retailers serious included will they've all had a website for over 24 years they are in fact the internet and you could order directly from them even back in the late 90s so for them to blame the internet is basically blaming themselves it's bullshit.
Patricia says internet retail sales only make up 8 to 10% of all retail sales meaning 90 plus percent still happens in the brick and mortar environment the reason for the downturn in the industry is simply because these companies have taken on mass amounts of debt coupled with the fact that their customer base me and you the public well there's an income deficiency across the population that's the real reason but you'll never hear any of these executives publicly announced that number one bad management is not going to take responsibility for driving these companies into massive debt number two their political pals don't want them to talk about how there's a massive income deficiency across the population so they conjured up the concept that they're going to blame the internet and sell that to stupid people!
I loved Sears
Such wonderful memories. The main thing that sticks out at me is Sears and other American companies made products to Last, not just be discarded the minute they break. Washer and dryers, dishwasher, refrigerators, all of these things, even televisions, were meant to be kept for at least a decade, not thrown away after three years of use (if you're lucky). Such wasteful and sad times we live in.
I loved Sears. I even miss Service Merchandise where you'd see your stuff come out at the conveyer belt
Like one of your other commenters, I can't understand why Sears didn't get into the online business. They could have been what Amazon is today. I, as a 74 your old Baby Boomer, miss them. Thank you Recollection Road.
I well remember living in Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain, one of my uncles living in Arizona visited us and brought one of those SEARS catalogs. My Brother and I spent months looking through it. One of the prices I still remember was a shotgun for $16.00. READ that again; $16.00! I'd be surprised if you could buy a box of shells for that much.
What a great store that was!
And here I am, born/raised in North America, fascinated by the GDR’s state catalogues. I can only imagine how foreign mass consumerism must have indeed seemed to you!
@@privatelyprivate3285
Indeed!
In the 70s I heard the suggestion that Sears should mail a catalog to every adult in the Soviet Union. The People of the USSR were never our enemies. The enemy was the leadership and the party.
@@mpetersen6 hmmm…I’m not sure a single catalogue would have been delivered there, and I’m VERY sure no _order_ from one would’ve (let alone afforded/payable by anyone there) 😉
@@mpetersen6
Yes, that is true! It's the brainwashing that counted the most. They were kept in constant fear. Same as it is in China, today.
P.S. Mailing catalogs to the USSR would never have gotten off the ground! Having those catalogs in the hands of the ordinary citizens would have been. the fuel for a revolution. Cheers
Worked at Sears in the 70’s (bill collector) and they had EVERYTHING. I think one in ten people worked there at some time in their lives. They were very forgiving on returns, Christmas decorations returned after Christmas, no problem! I miss them.
I miss Sears...and the way America used to be... ☹
My biggest memory of Sears when I was a kid was the Christmas time display of model trains. My first model train was an O scale Sears Allstate brand. I really miss Sears.
I miss Sears the way it was. They offered so much in the way of product and service. I never thought I'd see Sears fall so bad as it has. With their experience in their catalog and delivery service, they should have easily converted to online shopping and beat Amazon before it even got off the ground. Poor management and corporate raiding destroyed this great company!
The Sears catalog had everything PLUS an established nationwide distribution network, a fleet of delivery vans, AND a very good reputation. If Sears hadn't abandoned it (it was still making profit at the time!), Amazon would have never gotten off the ground.
Agreed. Sears shut down their catalog division just a couple of years before Internet shopping took off. Sears should have been the absolute king of online shopping.
Well see that's just it they did convert to online it's just unfortunately a lot of you either ignore that or you don't know about that but I can remember in the mid to late nineties yeah they were one of the first with a website and you would click on the tab labeled catalog and you could buy whatever you wanted right from their website see this is the problem with blaming the internet this past decade.
In order to blame the internet for brick and mortars downfall frankly you'd have to be a complete idiot because you have to ignore logic that clearly states that most of these retailers have been the internet for literally 24 to 26 years with the capability to either ship to your house or you could pick it up in the store much like today there's virtually no difference so you can't go on blaming Amazon that is a bullshit claim.
So every time I hear these retailers and other assorted people blame the internet to me it makes absolutely no sense because it's pretty much well wait a minute if you've been the internet since pretty much the late 90s early 2000s then you're blaming yourself.
internet retail sales only make up 8 to 10% of all retail sales that didn't even time 90 plus percent still happen in the brick and mortar environment the reason for the downfall in the industry and or downturn in the industry is simply due to an income deficiency across the population this is what bad management doesn't particularly want you to talk about because they're political pals don't want you to talk about that.
But you also have the major situations that bad management had also ran these companies into a ditch with taking on mass amounts of debt this is exactly why these companies are in the shitter it's bad management bad decisions that cost a lot of money they cannot make up the money they borrow to try and stay afloat only to getting the company deeper in debt then there's no real way to pay it back because the customer base is low on cash they're screwed.
Of course we have another problem in this country and it's called education most people have zero analytical skills much less zero mathematical analytical skills meaning most of the population do not understand percentages and they barely understand the numbers that they're taught to look at.
Meaning the vast majority can't understand how Amazon can take in a bit more money per year than Walmart even though they have a smaller percentage of the retail sector people don't understand how you can squeeze more money out of 8 to 10% of the market versus brick and mortars 90 plus percent they don't understand that.
So they automatically assume that Amazon is the biggest snail they that's where people are led to believe nonsense that Amazon is bigger than Walmart when it is not.
I would also like to point out another reason why blaming the internet is frankly stupid is simply it is the same thing as the Sears catalog the difference is instead of looking at a paper printed book you're just looking at a digital catalog via the computer or cell phone okay that's the only damn difference but the business itself still functions the same which is you the customer please is your order a person in a warehouse feels that order and then it goes on a truck and shipped okay it's the same difference as it was 100 years ago when Sears started out because that's how serious started out before they ever had a brick and mortar store they were a fucking catalog company.
Here's the deal when Sears decided to expand into stores and of course Montgomery words also had a catalog JCPenney had a catalog and they all ran physical brick and mortar stores as well as the catalog business but there were other companies that were around that were nothing but dedicated catalog companies much like Amazon today is a dedicated internet catalog company but here's the track why is it during the 1930s none of these retailers of brick and mortar bitched pissed and moaned and whined that their business apparently is being hurt by the catalog company?
You'll never find an article about that anywhere it does not exist because it did not happen!
Sears at Macomb Mall was the store i remember as a kid...pretty much everything we had in our house was from sears...kenmore washer/dryer/fridge/stove/water heater, pots and pans, small appliances...in our dressers and closets, sears clothing for kids and adults...on our cars, sears tires, batteries, etc. Sears was where you bought anything and everything a family needed
Loved the Sears Wish Book at Christmas!
I'd spend hours looking at it.
Yeah me too I would put little check marks next to the toys I wanted so my Mom would know for Christmas.
It was great ! They had everything ! My parents bought all of their appliances from Sears. The catalog was so much fun going through, especially the "Christmas" edition. My dad's tools all came from there, including our new gas mower. So much of my school clothes came from there. I sure miss stores like Sears. I miss those days. How wonderful living was back then. The younger generations will never know.
I loved Sears!! Thanks for this sweet look back
I remember in the 60’s when my Dad would buy Craftsman tools, he said they were guaranteed for life. Being around 6-8 years old at the time, I never thought a business would go out of business.
WLS Radio Station in Chicago was founded by Sears. WLS stood for Worlds Largest Store.
And at one time WLS was one of the greatest rock stations.
@@paulj6756 I lived in St. Louis and still loved to listen to WLS. 89-W-L-S‼️Used to be able to listen all day. Was one of the bigger stations. 3:41 one of my favourite shortwave radios was my uncle’s Silvertone 5 band radio. It was tremendous.
larry lujack and little tommy
@@longhairscorpio3976 👍🏻
@@longhairscorpio3976 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
My Dad has a Craftsman router over 40 years old. He dropped it on concrete when I was a kid (early 80's).
It STILL works.
I loved shopping at my local Sears in the late 60's because they had a jukebox in the teenage girl section that for a nickel you could play like 10 Creedence Clearwater Revival songs! Plus the Christmas wish book!
Lovely!
Ha, CCR was the first concert I ever went to! Good times. 😊
At 18, Sears was my first credit card. I used it to buy Spectrum oil, DieHard batteries and heavy duty shocks. We were in the tires line for three hours when my sister waited until there was snow on the ground to go buy retread snow tires. Mom worked in a Sears catalog store. Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances, clothes and toys. Sears had Everything!
Wonderful memories!
Sears was the King and Queen. 50 years later I still have the first mechanics tool set I bought at Sears. And I still use that old steel tool box. I tell my sons, “These tools I bought when I was 15. And they are still better than tools you can buy today.”
I never thought I'd live in a world with no Sears. I accidentally came across their website the other day, it was wonderful to see they're still around, sort of.
Sears was a great store. Going in with my mom or dad was a treat even if we weren't shopping for me - it was fun to just look around. I remember my dad buying me my first two model airplanes at Sears, and a few years later I picked up a first baseman's mitt for 7 dollars that lasted me for years, my youngest sister inherited it and used it for over 10 years in a softball league. A lot of my clothes were bought there. Every year in the fall we'd look for the arrival of the Christmas Wish Book - that catalog itself was like an early Christmas present. By the time Christmas came the pages were quite worn. The regular spring-summer and fall-winter catalogs were heavily browsed, too. Great memories. 👍👏🧡
For young people just starting out in the 1970s Sears was invaluable. Just about anyone could get their entry level card, and SEARS E Z Payment plan allowed my wife and I to completely equip a kitchen in our 1st home. We were in our early 20s, not much of credit history and entry level jobs and Sears made it easy because they reckoned they would have a customer for life. And so they did, 3/4 of my tools are Craftsmen and I had my last Kenmore fridge only 5 years ago. But it was a holdover from the 'olden years' when it was a r-e-a-l company and not a plaything for the leveraged buyout kids. It is truly amazing how many nice things in this world were utterly destroyed by financier shenanigans. It's not so much that "we got what we asked for" as much as it is "we got what we did not pay attention to".
Yep, Sears was the go-to store for my family growing up. They had almost everything except groceries. It was a one-stop shopping trip. They had good quality and service.
My mother used to always get the hot cashews for me at the snack bar when we were shopping there. I'd often get a children's record/book to play on my record player. I have almost all of my father's Craftsman tools. Sears issued my first credit card, and I later obtained a Discover Card which I still have. Sears always had anything you needed, and it's a shame all the stores are gone. ☹️
I was going to say the same thing. I remember going to Sears with my grandparents. It always included a bag of hot cashews, something we never got any other time. What a great memory.
I'm 63 and my favorite candy was the real malted milk balls that they had.
@@mattpobursky850 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
Yeah similar lifestyle back in the 60's and 70's loved sears
@@jackbean7195 Gen Xer here and I would always get cherry sours.
Craftsman are excellent quality tools. Owned a complete socket ratchet set. The Die-Hard batteries were great too. Really miss Sears.
I am lucky to still have a Sears near me and still go about once a month, it's not like the old days but it's a little bit of nostalgia 😊
Hello from Finland. I have probably the largest Sears & Roebuck catalog collection in Finland. The most of them are more than 50 years old. I bought them from eBay but then the postages went astronomical and shipping of a big Sears catalogue is now over 50 bucks. I really enjoy reading those old pieces. Especially car parts are very interesting.
Yeah I would look through the car parts sections in the early 70s and loved all the stuff people would complain that it was junk or something but it's the person putting it together and doing maintenance
Question: Did any if your oldest copies have an animal section? I remember from the late 50's to early 60's(?) there being a section where you could buy a dog, chicks and some farm supplies, such as fencing.
I can’t get enough of this channel. It brings back all my memories. I love them all. And of course loved the Sears catalog at Christmas
I'm a caregiver and a client had a Sears catalog from the late 20s that advertised house kits for about $800. They cut the lumber, load the nails, screws, etc. and dumped it on your lot. Fascinating.
Many of those Sears kit homes are still being lived in today. If I'm not mistaken, I think there is a town in Illinois that has a lot of those homes being lived in today. Carlinville, IL is the town.
I lived in a Sears kit house in Michigan; it had been built around 1920, and was still both sound and absolutely beautiful.
@@christinebutler7630 That's outstanding. I've recently become hooked on house-fix-up shows and I'm not at all surprised that those houses were built to last. I'm in Ohio and the climate is less than hospitable for us both. Apologies if you were/are a Michigan fan.
@@jenniferhansen3622 That's tremendous. Makes you wonder how a company that offered that kind of longevity could end up where it is now.
Sears sold a lot things through the years I remember they sold motorcycles boats and boat motors and I remember somebody saying they even sold cars at one time the even sold Cemetery monuments
I still mourn the loss of Sears. It was my favorite store. The Craftsman Tools I purchased there still feed my family to this day. The real tragedy is Sears was the first Amazon. How the company executives could take their eyes off the ball and let Amazon kick their collective butts is very tragic. Every time I get drug into a mall, I tell my wife to come and get me at the Craftsman Tool Department when she is finished. Truly Sad. Thanks for the wonderful video.
You're right. Amazon became the modern version of Sears, and Sears didn't adapt. I miss Sears, too. I have a garage full of Craftsman tools, a 28 year old Craftsman lawnmower, a 30 year old Kenmore washing machine and a 16 year old Kenmore dryer. And they all work great.
Sears was our go to and I'm so glad to have had them in our lives for many years
I reccomend the Plaza Las Americas Sears, Sears Brand Central, and Sears Home Improvements stores. Still open and it's the only one of the 14 remaining Sears that's been renovated (2018).
Sears was the first store to start building away from traditional downtown areas. This was the beginning of the idea of malls - and the end of most downtowns. I remember our Sears in the 50s for two reasons - the candy-by-the-pound counter and the escalator. It was the only store that had an escalator. I was fascinated by it.
Loved everything about Sears!!! I feel sad for anyone that didn't get the privilege of knowing Sears. Vineland, NJ, btw.
Sears always made good stuff, I've got all sorts of stuff that my grandparents bought in the 60's and 70's that still functions as though it were brand new! Not to mention all the Craftsman tools and outdoor power equipment I've collected over the last 20-30 years. There stuff is dang near unkillable with just minimal care and maintenance... sometimes even without!
Sears was always huge for Back to School. I think they had a brand of jeans, Rustler. Always wore them.
Sadly, the quality decreased as the store neared its end. I have a Craftsman tool cabinet I bought in 2018 and the bottom drawer track broke in a couple of years. I loved Sears in its heyday and can remember taking my son there to buy toys. Just sad the quality went down, and the stores are no longer. My husband said there used to be a saying as Sears goes, so goes the country. That is hitting the nail on the head.
I agree. I used to work at a Sears store back in 2012-2013. The Red Craftsman riding mowers that used to be bulletproof in terms of reliability became foreign-made junk. One customer went on a rant on Black Friday about going through his third riding mower in 5 years. The online ordering system, where a customer selected "ship to store," became a nightmare. Customers would receive an automated e-mail telling them their order was ready for pickup...when it would be sitting at the nose of a fully loaded trailer. Not staged in a bin with the customer's name on it. As you can imagine, that didn't go over well with many people. In addition, morale at the store I worked at was in the toilet. The company was in the midst of a raise freeze. One person I worked with had been there four years and was making the same wage as me...$8 per hour.
Sears was an American gem! They sold the best kids clothes. Toughskins jeans with guaranteed knees that would not wear out. If you got a tear or hole, free new pair was given. The had a slim fit option too. I bought a sewing machine in 1975 that was made in Japan with all metal gears and only one belt. It weighed about 20lb. What a work horse it was. Just great! Thanks RR !
Today's sewing machines, regardless of where you buy them, are probably made in China, and wear out in five years.
Yes, I use to buy my oldest daughters jeans only from them because she was so rough on them. No matter how many times she wore a hole, they'd replace them as long as it was the same size.
The striped Oshkosh overalls outlasted every kid and hand-me-down while still looking brand new.
Yup we had Toughskin jeans and jackets as a kid in the late 60's thru the 70's.
@@privatelyprivate3285 The only ones my mom would buy for me, as a was a rough tomboy.
At one point in time, Sears was it, they were absolutely awesome! I remember as an elementary student my mom taking us to Sears and we got to pick out three dresses that would total a cost of $10 for school each year. In the world of appliances, you could not beat a Kenmore, as a matter fact I still have a Kenmore refrigerator that is at least 22 years old, if not older, and as of this moment, it is still running perfectly fine. I have read the nightmare stories about today’s refrigerators, and I know that I will never be able to get the great quality that Kenmore offered. What has happened? Why have we declined in quality that’s ridiculous. It’s such a shame that Sears could not keep up and stay in business I think they just really let go of it during the 90s.😢
Sears used to have a great variety of merchandise you could purchase from them. Sadly, the later stores I visited didn't have much to offer. Their selection had become very limited. And, in later years, their customer service went downhill, as well. My own family experienced this. They didn't always hold to their policy of satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. My dad almost had to sue the management of one Sears store because they refused to honor the warranty on a water heater he had bought from them. They finally, begrudgingly came through. But it didn't bode well for their reputation.
I remember going with my mom and grandmother shopping at Sears at the mall. At the end we would go to the candy counter, and grams would always get snowcaps candy. Good memories.
I still love and buy Snowcaps 😉
As a child we had a store near me called service merchandise and I remember it being like nothing else as you would grab a ticket instead of the item and pay then wait for it to appear on a long conveyor belt. It was pretty cool as a little kid. Also, there are a couple of Sears houses near me and my dads friend lives in one.
I remember that store in my teens in the '90s
Growing up in Chicago, I didn't realize how fortunate we were until I got older; I thought everyone everywhere had Sears. As kids we would get on our bicycles in the Fall, head to our local Sears store and hang out in their toy department just to gaze at the huge slot car tracks they set up every year for Christmas and let our imaginations run wild.
I worked at the Niles store at Golf Mill in high school. I moved to Wisconsin and people I talked to never went to a Sears with candy and cashews!!! That was a good smell memory!!!
@@roseknott2832remember the Karmelkorn Shop? The Sears store we hung out at was the one in Golf Mill. Greetings from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin!
Yes yum! And greetings from Kaukauna WI!
😢 oh how I miss our Sears here in Prescott Arizona
We sure did grow up with Sears, just about two or three miles from our house. And yes we loved the Wishbook as kids! Times don't always improve for the better.
Sears was indeed the go-to store. If they didn't have it, you probably didn't need it. So sorry to see it's demise. The entrance we always used at our local Sears had a little kiosk in the parking lot where you could get keys made. It was about the size of one of those old Fotomats!
Chapel Hill?
@@summerrose4286 Toledo, Ohio!
I liked many of the Sears' brands across the store. At one time they stood behind all their merchandise; then about 10 plus/minus years before they closed, that "We stand behind what we sell" ethos went out the window. I did like their Land's End section in the store---when items were on sale I got wonderful holiday and birthday gifts for family and friends.
Huge savings too. I miss Sears, the variety of merchandise they carried, and the convenience of shopping in one store.
I was born in 64, thus so much of this is familiar! Wards was OK, but Sears got most of our business. And I got one of those early Discover cards when I graduated from college. I think we did most of our back to school shopping there as well until middle school. You forgot to mention Toughskins, the jeans for kids that were practically indestructible.
Remember the "Sears has everything" jingle? And they did have everything. They even sold a re-badged Henry J car named the Allstate in their stores, back in the late 1940s or early 1950s. You can Google it to see a picture. I grew up in Chicago and Sears had a store on the corner of North and Harlem Avenue. It was our go-to store for everything, from appliances to clothes. At one time they had a Hilman's grocery store attached to it. When Hilman's closed, they turned it into the Men and Boy's clothing section. I remember they raffled off a Studebaker Avanti in the early 60's. They needed to expand their parking lot, so they bought a number of surrounding homes to get space. I could go on and on . . . I recently drove passed that location and it's been completely demolished. Probably another cookie cutter strip mall will take its place. How sad.
I never thought in a million years that Sears would come to an end.!
Sometimes it's for the better could've the internet generation appreciate sears a or any old school institution
Yeah.... CEO Mr. Lampbert screwed over KMart and SEARS....
I have an old cooking pot from Sears purchased in the late 1970s or early 80s. The side handles are worn out but it still works and I use to cook pasta a few times a month. Still going strong
Sears refused to change their business model with the times.
Back in 2000, as an over-the-road big rig driver, I found myself in Del Rio, TX at one of their catalog houses. I was trying to purchase a replacement ballet outfit and shoes for my, at the time, six year old daughter who was outgrowing her clothing like you wouldn't have believed.
Anyways, I had cash money on hand at the point of sale and wanted them to send it to the house.
They kept on trying to get me to fill out a credit card application for a line of credit. I told them that I wasn't interested in that.
Then, the only other way that they would accept payment is with a personal check. I paid cash for everything that I needed so that too was out of the question.
I asked them what was the problem with the method that I had intended to pay for my purchases and they informed me that they do not accept cash at that location.
When I asked them why they didn't accept cash, they kept on trying to get me to fill out the application.
By this time, I was in this place for far longer than necessary so I told them to get Chicago (headquarters) on the phone.
The situation was resolved when Chicago authorized that location to accept my method of payment. So, they ended up taking my cash after all!
I refused to play their games with their old school business model because if you only make monthly payments on your purchases, they end up raking in more coin from you over time with the interest fees.
And, that was their racket.
Convert the cash customer over to a line of credit or accept their personal check giving the buyer an alternative option but at many of their catalog houses, they refuse to accept good old American coin as payment.
If I'm not mistaken, Sears refused the utilization of the internet in addition as well.
At the end of the day, would I like to see Sears still around? Sure, I would but when you refuse to adapt, improvise or overcome to your situations, then moving forward becomes an unnecessary struggle.
Same...KMart for me...I'm only 33...
I just happen to have that same 1974 catalog
I worked at Sears during high school in the 70's taking catalog orders on the phone. Never got tired of looking thru the catalogs and became a lifelong Sears customer. I still have a Kenmore dryer, many tools, vacuum cleaner and a Craftsman riding mower.
From a small town so the SEARS store was small, but the pickup counter from mail orders was always packed. Bigger items, appliances and such was delivered to the home. I really miss the SEARS shopping experiences. Also being one of six kids, we wore out the Christmas wish list catalog. Good times.
“Whose turn is to ‘read’ the wishbook in bed tonight!”
@@privatelyprivate3285 I just miss, the REAL times, when boys, were REALLY boys, and girls were REALLY girls, and there was no confusion, or mental illness, when it came to using public bathroom.
We moved from Toronto to a small BC town in 74, I was six. A large new indoor mall had been built to support the three new pulp-mills, and was one of two malls we had in our city. The older mall featured Woodwards, the newer mall Simpson Sears, not Roebuck as in the US.
The Wish Book, the cafeteria, toy shop, sporting goods...everything was amazing. Sears had everything including drapery, carpets etc. My dad filled his home shop with Craftsman, Kenmore was on all the appliances and my mother worked in the credit office. My outdoor Scouting gear came from there, as did our Coleman canoe and other family camping gear.
Canadian Sears is gone now but it is a huge part of my memory, even as I got older and worked in the mill myself, I would go visit my mum on days off, say hi, and shop. Shame that it is gone.
I remember being able to order rifles and shotguns via the Sears catalog until 1968.
Sears was the place to get anything you wanted!!! 🖒 Loved walking around looking at everything!!!! 😄 And oh those catalogues!!!! 😲 Hours of looking and "Wishing"!!!! 😁 When we built our house all the appliances were Kenmore and we still have them 25 years later!!!! 🖒 Only thing replaced was bottom burner in stove oven!!!! 😊 It was so sad to watch the decline and end!!!! 😕 SO many wonderful memories!!! 💕
I worked in the Catalog Dept for 5 years. I was 18 and the rest of the ladies were middle-aged with a sprinkling of other ages. A few of us would memorize each new catalog for those pages that were always referenced but never found by customers. We had to hoard the separate Tool and Wish books because they would fly off the shelf. We would mourn the loss of tools when a fellow would come in to fill out the insurance paperwork after someone walked off with their cabinets of cherished pieces. I quickly learned how to make sure custom cut blinds were measured properly. And amazed at busy moms coming in for their Back-To-School orders (and returns!). It was never dull, and if customer service needed help, we were right there, digging out temporary cards or having to call the people anxious for their refrigerators to be delivered (will never forget the time I was yelled at by a new father whose newborn's milk supply was in a cooler and fridge was days late to be delivered). It really taught me to be patience with retail, on either side of the cash register.
I certainly remember going with my mother to the Catalog Department, so it is really interesting to hear from one of the people who worked there!
@@barbarak2836 We were always amused working Christmas Eve, the folks (mostly men) rushing into the corner we were in mere minutes before closing. And the faces falling when they realized, after we told them yes, we can get that, but it will be in the store days after Christmas.
@@2244ntho66 😁
Division 200 worker here too. I worked for several years in one of the stores in NJ. We’ll always remember that Division 9 was tools, 49 was toys and 71 was seasonal. For house furnishings, 941 was winter white. Dang, still remember this stuff
@@artiek1177 You just gave me flashbacks...not sure if it's a good one or not!
Greatest single store ever! I still have the craftsman wrenches I bought when I was 16 to work on my car. My dad worked at Sears for 30 years before retiring. Great memories there!
Sears advertising slogan was "Sears, where America Shops." Sadly no more. 😢😢
I remember getting the Sears catalog every year and spend hours dreaming of the things I could do if I had this item. That was our internet.
I miss Sears 😢
I still remember the excitement of flipping thru the black & white pages to get to the colored ones - with the toys of course! my father was a Sears tool fan, it was a special trip to go with him.
I worked at Sears part-time from 1982 to 1988, all in the men's department. I went from regular menswear to suits (3% commission on all sales). My dad worked at Sears part-time to make extra money even longer than I did. Our house was full of Kenmore appliances. Our first microwave and big console color TV came from Sears. Their hard-lines were excellent products, but by the mid-80's, even their soft-lines (clothing, shoes) were pretty darn good. The popcorn and candy counter phased out at our store by around 1984. I remember when they even had a little cafeteria/lunceonette, which bit the dust in our store around 1983. Shame to see what was once a great department store reduced to essentially nothing today.
I worked there in the late 70s....I remember the cafeteria! Id go there for my breaks. Did you have the different colored name tags that showed your rank? I remembered that reading this. And those bongs in the store instead of paging
@@roseknott2832 Yes, when I first started working at Sears they had the different color name tags (red, green, and black, I think) but that was later phased out.
Sears IS where we went for everything. I remember it well as a kid in the 60s, and going there as a young man thru the 80s. Dad would get his car worked on there, then never paying for, example, shock absorbers again because of the lifetime warranties.
I love looking at the Christmas issue so I could look at electric trains (~1955 to 1962 time frame when I was huge on electric trains). As I built up more and more trains/tracks/switches over those years I would design my own layouts.
Much fun in those days.