Indeed, however it was all mostly crap. Or made by someone else and branded Kenmore for example. Bottom line, they where too expensive and low quality towards the end. Today I can find cheaper (and lower quality) and far better quality (but more expensive). The market (us) didn't want what Wards and Sears were selling anymore.
Yeah. Just try finding and buying one of those off Ebay! Depending on the year and season $50ish if ya just gotta have one. Most of us find it hard to justify spending that kind of money for something that was free. Christmas catalogs tend to be the most expensive.
@@kingforaday8725 I was recently gifted a huge 70s sears catalog. Those things are arguably even more fascinating now that they're aged, as it's essentially a window to the past.
Ok...I am curious. Does anyone out there remember when you did not see Christmas decorations (or hear Holiday music) until the day after Thanksgiving? At least where I live, the stores would do all of their decorating when the stores were closed on Thanksgiving. The following day, it was magical to hit the stores. Marshall Fields, Sears, Wards, Carson Pirie Scott etc. sure knew how to create holiday spirit. The Marshall Field windows were maginificent.
Life without memories how nothing to write about. I truly missed those 60s and 70s life style, those time is nothing but fun and lot of happiness. American 🇺🇸 got so many history to always remember
Sure do! I owned a resale shop for 14 yrs. and refused to put Christmas decorations up until after Thanksgiving. I'll be old school until I meet my Maker! Yup, when the Christmas windows went on display in downtown Chicago, people were lined up 2 or 3 deep to view the windows at Fields and Carson Pirie's. I worked on Wacker Drive and walked to State St. to view the windows and shop there. Can't hardly do that anymore!
@@krislange1186 I hate swing Christmas decorations being sold in July...I bet your shop was full of Christmas cheer and spirit!..I I'm a traditional gal to when it comes to Christmas
I also enjoyed the wait ….. I was shopping in a fine jeweler in Detroit in 1970 I late September….it was a large store, several floors , I got off the elevator on the 3rd floor to Christmas decorations the earliest I ever encountered
Yep. For those of us who are older millennials (80s born) as well. So many of these places were such a big part of my childhood! Can't believe sometimes that most of them are gone.
Yes it is,I love these videos.All my daughters look at me and roll there eyes.So sad ladies,you missed it all.they had customer service back then,you missed that too.😐
I miss all these stores and malls, the excitement of walking around and seeing everything, hoping for sales, trying things on, being able to get things right away, the human connection ... shopping on line is just not the same....
Agreed. I'm old-school. I'm not particularly interested in buying many clothes online. I always like feeling it, trying it on, inspecting the fabric, etc. Even moreso with shoes.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. We loved those times so much that we now need to go to the Internet, the thing that actually took the stores from us to revisit. Stranger than fiction.
Woolworths.... wow. I remember going to that store in the 80’s with my mother and great great aunt. Man, that lady could dress. Tons of clothes in a very small space.....To go back, just for a day right?😊
Sadly I can’t say I ever got the chance to enjoy them.... I was only born in ‘86 and only really got to see the former shells of what they once used to be. How sad all of this is now gone, manufacturing is outsourced to mainly China and other parts of the world, and pride for running department stores is only making more and more money with a watered down experience of what it once was. This video made me sad and nostalgic for a past I never got to live, or did I? Perhaps in a former life....
@@daniellegarcia8299 And the VERY ONES now running America are in bed with china,Wveryone hated Trump but he was telling the TRUTH!. He had to go so they cheated!. And stole 80 million peoples votes!😡
I worked for Wards for 21 years. We found out on the news they was closing all stores. We all was watching it on tv in electric Avenue inside the store. People who work their for decades was all crying. Thanks for the memories.
wow. you must have seen it all. the changes in everything. i would go to electric ave. for the latest cd's on my lunch break from sears. the mall was too cool and to work there even cooler.✌😎
@@juans6639 Friendly reminder Steven Page former front man Bare Naked Ladies told me the same thing over a year ago. I write what I want not what you want. You say it your way and I will say it my way. I don't change for you or anyone else
I used to work at Montgomery Ward in the 70’s. It had a little of everything. I remember working right across the isle from the, Carmel corn, warmed nuts and candy counter. It always smelled so good. They had a restaurant in the store that I worked at. Great memories.
@@joesmith4222 Yes I remember eating at the counter at SS Kresge as a kid in the 60’s. The ladies behind the counter wore white uniforms with hairnets. Since I was the only girl of 5, my mom would take me there for lunch or dessert when we went shopping. My favorite was white bread, butter with jam in those little containers and hot chocolate. Why white bread? Because we were not allowed to eat white bread as my dad said it was not healthy. We ate whole grain bread, rye, pumpernickel, wheat etc. (He was ahead of his time as he was correct) but, It was such a treat to have white bread, I thought. (Remember those were the days of white “wonder bread” and all kids ate wonder bread in their lunch at school). Great memories of those days.
@@g-bgcg LOL..remember the paper straws that would get soggy if you took too long do drink your pop or milk shake? "Bendy" straws were a new and novel invention.
I totally agree. The Sears Catalog was actually an advance preview of the internet Market. Sears already had all the warehouses in place around the country IN PLACE FOR THE ONLINE market and yet that slip through their hands EVEN with years of it showing it was coming.
The Sears "Toy Book" as we called it was magical. By the time Christmas rolled around, the pages of that book in our house we hanging on by a thread lol. I knew exactly where "my stuff" was...99% of which I never got!
Even in the 80’s we left our doors n windows open n unlocked. Actually in the country I left my doors unlocked at our home. It was open for anyone who wanted to visit even if we weren’t home. We had nice things but we never cared about things. I didn’t even want people to knock, just come on in. Now I double lock everything and lock my car up.
I noticed the open car windows. Now you can’t leave anything, even in a LOCKED car. But today’s generation won’t know the difference. They are growing up with crime, over-population, incivility, chronic lying, camped out all day behind their phones.
When I was a little girl I love viewing the new catalog for Christmas dreams(wishes). After my mom got the new spring one in the mail, I got to cut "paper dolls", her clothes, and home items. I fixed a couple of cardboard boxes by gluing and coloring the inside of my new dollhouse. The kids today have missed out on a lot of imagination and fun!
I get the Vermont Country Catalogue and told my husband today that when I was little I would have cut all those pictures in it out and played with them like I did with Penney's, Sears, and Wards. ☺
I just had to add...that I think we all, collectively, have lost something. These stores folding, more and more of us behind a computer or mobile device, buying and selling. A lot of people have lost that special little feeling that always accompanied just a shopping trip to the local department store or mall. A feeling of anticipation, being around a bunch of other people with the same pursuits in mind, having random friendly chats and encounters on your shopping expeditions, the cool feeling of relief and relaxation when you could FINALLY get off your feet and slip into a booth at the local restaurant or cafe, maybe the nearest Woolworths' (which lasted until the mid 1990s in my hometown) for a grilled cheese or salisbury steak platter. I remember all of it and treasure the memories. :)
So many memories flood my mind of Woolworths next door to JCPenney in Lodi, Sears & Montgomery Wards in Stockton, western auto, rexall drugs, thrifty drugs, Longs drug store, Newberry's, Ben Franklin,.... The thrill of going to just wander the store, eating at the soda fountain counter, being old enough for the clothes that were in the mezzanine level at JC Penneys, ... Today people don't want to see anyone else when they shop. Sad 😢😭
I was born in the mid 80s into a family who were early adopters of computers and the internet. So I’m kind of uniquely old enough to remember that era fondly while also experiencing the migration to a “screen based” life. Sometimes I think I’m just looking through nostalgia colored glasses. But I really miss the experience of bustling malls and the human element. The irony of me typing this on my iPhone is not lost on me however.
I feel lucky that as a young adult I could still experience shopping at Sears, Wards, Hutzlers, and Hoschild-Kohn. I remember my Mom taking my sister and I to the Wards at 4:13 when we were just kids. They had a catalog pick-up there that Mom visited often, and my sis and I saw it as a great treat to be allowed to go along. As I got older, this particular store went downhill, and I was so sorry to see it go. It was like losing a member of the family.
I feel the same with Malta what Waltons in Melbourne and Sydney in Victoria Melbourne in Australia in the 80s shopping at Waltons and done even Myers up has been taken over by Coles is really lesson that's glamour like it's stuck a Target store now it's like a really generic department store
Yes this brings back my childhood !! My mom bought most of our school cloths from montgomery wards orderd a lot of stuff from the catolog too !! I sure miss those days !! 💖
Actually it was written by Robert L May. Published in 1939 by Montgomery Ward. I had to look this up. I remember when the Rankin/Bass production of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on TV in 1964. I was 9 years old. We did get a color TV until 1965. Gene Autry was the snowman, reindeer, and narrator. Even though the Song was the same from the original book the story line was different. I had a record album with the Montgomery Ward version when I was very young. So there were 2 versions.
"Get your facts straight Robert L. May created the character and the Montgomery Wards were apart of advertising for it but they didn't create the character, and Gene Autry recorded the song and of course made it a hit."-🤔🌐🌎🌍🌏🌐..
Don't you see they want to DESTROY OUR HERITAGE!.Oldsmobile& Pontiac was destroyed by barry&manchele in his 8 years destroying america. Now we have a criminal in dc using small case for the thieves that cheated their way into our highest office😡😡😡😡
For many years I had a Montgomery Ward riding lawnmower. I still have my farm ranch coat from Montgomery wards with blanket lining and still in good shape
Just reminds me of my grandma. Waiting around for her to finish shopping here. The smell of the store and sound of the tile while she tells me to sit down and behave. I miss her always.
Recollection Road I am thankful to Have when I was young shopped at Wards, Sears, Woolworths and so Many more Great old stores. Shopping was Fun and exciting back then! I still Have a Large 1967 Sears Catalogs in good shape I found of My Moms, and saved. I as 20 years old in 67. Thank you So Much for this!
Remember WT Grants? That was another big department store that folded years ago. People used to save the old Sears catalogue for use in the outdoor privy and read it and then use pages for toilet paper. Hemorrhoid City!😱
You are so right, shopping was a big deal, we only went a few times a month, but made a day of it, lunch at Kresges lunch counter, and the bus home. Maybe a cab if we money left over, lol, great memories!
@@SD-nh5yr I worked in a Grants Store in Rockford Illinois. I worked in the office and I remember that the store manager would have us lie for him. “If anyone calls tell them‘I’m not here.’” One time the district manager called and wanted the store manager. I told him that the “boss says he’s not here. “. The store manager was not a happy camper and when the opportunity came to lay people off, I was one of the first to be gone. I was actually happy because I didn’t have to lie for him anymore.😁
@@SD-nh5yr it was a big deal for me when my parents would take an occasional shopping trip to Clinton Iowa to shop at the KMART store and the Wards and Eagle Supermarket. They were saving trading stamps and it was a really big deal to go to Rock Island Illinois for redemption of the stamps for neat schtuff. I was a fan of a kiddie show “Grandpa Happy “ It was presented on WHBF channel 4 in Rock Island and we were able drive by the studios which is just a plain looking building but I was excited to see where “Grandpa Happy “ was. 😁 That was back in the 1950s when a lot of local television stations had their own live kiddie shows.
Who remembers Wendy Wards? They had a modeling school for young ladies. Me and my sister went there every Saturday, and at the end of the course, we had a fashion show - wow - what memories!
Beautiful footage of better days! In the early footage, it shows that people wouldn't even lock their cars and could leave their windows open. What the hell happened to us as a society?!
My small town had only a Sears catalog store, Ben Franklin, Western Auto, and some Mom & Pop stores. So when Wards opened a small store in the mid seventies, it was a BIG DEAL. They threw a huge Grand Opening party that included elephant rides for the kids! I got my first new saddle there, too. Great memories.
Evergreen Plaza at 95th and Western. I always remember the vacuum display in Wards where the vacuum nozzle was blowing out air. It kept a beach ball suspended in air while it constantly spun. It will always amaze me! Born in 1959.
I think I'm going to have to start making my clothes again. I don't know about other people, but I can't just buy an article of clothing online. I need to see it, feel the fabric, try it on before I decide to get it. Comfort is the most important thing to me.
Same here. And even trying on clothes at the store: no size is true. I currently own clothes in 8, 10, 12, 14 and they all fit. Plus what is current fashion isn’t my taste at all.
Montgomery Weird? I remember that my dad bought a power lawn mower and a boat from Wards when it was in Clinton Iowa. That mower was a reel type cutter and it lasted until my folk both died.
When I moved out of my parent's house and bought my first house in 1979, I bought a tv and many other items at Montgomery Ward. This Wards was at Wheaton Plaza in Silver Spring, Maryland. I miss Wards. A Target is now where the Wards used to be. I like old classic cars and enjoyed looking at the cars in the parking lots in the pictures from this video.
I remember that Wards, too. I haven't luved in the area in long time, and barely recognized anything when my husband and I drove through on a whim. I spent many happy hours at the plaza with my parents and grandparents.
OMG. At 4:40 in the video, appears a gray 4 door, 1949 Plymouth Special DeLuxe. The day that I turned 17, I purchased an exact car as pictured in the video. It was my birthday, April 1960. I had just acquired my drivers permit in NJ. Wish I had that car now. Sorry for jumping off topic. It was just such a surprise to see the EXACT car that I once owned.
Strange I just had a memory lane moment at dozing off of the auto parts store (western auto ) In our small town in California it was the only place for 35 miles a kid could get his bicycle inner tube and patch kit
My father bought a 1965 Plymouth Belvedere 2 and it had Montgomery Ward's Town & Country shocks.... This was around 2010. Still have several Montgomery Wards 10 W 30 motor oil in the paper cartons that use the detachable pour spouts.
Life without memories how nothing to write about. I truly missed those 60s and 70s life style, those time is nothing but fun and lot of happiness. American 🇺🇸 got so many history to always remember
I was never in a Montgomery Ward Store, but it looked magical and a happy place:)!! I was a Child from the 70s to the 80s and I had a Green Toy Kitchen Set, like the one in this Catalog:)!! And I also LOVED the Floral Toy Tea Set in this Catalog:)!! Also, the Ladies were so feminine and I so LOVED some of the dresses as much as the pearl choker on the Lady with the beautiful coral color dress with matching coral color sweater:)!! Thank you for sharing a part of our American past:)!!
I used to shop at the Montgomery Ward's with my family when I was a kid. We didn't have much money, but we scrimped and saved to buy the best so it lasted longer. Montgomery Ward's offered very reasonable, flexible payments and worked with us when dad lost his ability to work and mom was the breadwinner. I always liked these stores and the staff were always so friendly to everyone!👍👌 It stinks that a good store like this is becoming almost extinct. But I have good memories! 😀😀😀
My earliest memory of Montgomery Ward was in San Jose ,Ca. in 1959. We had recently arrived from Texas and I was 12 year old.The store was in downtown SJ and was the main store up until the late 60s when other branch stores were built.One thing that stood out was the wooden floor . It must have been built in the 20s if not earlier.
Man, you're hitting all my nostalgia feelings here...I love your content but it's also a little sad to see how many places of my childhood are long gone or on their way to extinction. I remember the local Montgomery Wards' so freaking well. My family bought everything from furniture to shoes there. It was a constant part of my shopping life until around 2001, I believe, when one day we drove by and it was closed...for good. I was shocked as I hadn't been expecting what I considered this giant of retail to shut down ever! But it was gone and we shifted our shopping to Wal-Mart (insert rolling eyes gif). I'll always remember Wards though and the fun times I had shopping there with my family, eating at the little cafe too!
If I recall the late 60s had so many issues with litter and trash on American highways that it brought us the “Pitch-in” and “give a hoot dont pollute” programs to help teach children about not being litter bugs and keeping America clean. We had the same problems back then.
I think it is crucial that we admit to ourselves that reality. I am a young person who cannot inherently understand it when people reminisce about times I am wholly unfamiliar with; however, I also recognize that I will have a similar mentality -- or at least be exposed to a similar mentality -- a number of decades into the future. I will be faced with a world I no longer understand or feel as if I fit within; I will be an alien to this world, stuck in some era to some extent permanently. That can be a difficult reality to face, and I can only hope to face it with dignity and not mere cynicism.
@@willoughby1888 That's a sensible response. I feel as if I have observed many older folks who seem very insecure with their present reality, which is what builds my impression of aging, but everyone is different and I know some older folks who adjust very well (I also know some younger people who idolize past times they've never actually experienced). I wonder what influences these disparate outcomes.
I was there, at Baybrook Mall in Houston Tx.. I still have my Sharp microwave oven I purchased there. Boy, time passes by fast! Lots of memories: sad that W didn't keep up after existing for so long.
i loved the Christmas catalogs & can remember the smell of walking into their stores, kind of a fresh, new scent. i so enjoyed your pictures, thank you 😊
I just love this whole series. Thanks so much for taking the time to make and research these videos. It's so nostalgic and sad to see how relaxed life was and how shocking and overly stressed it is now.
I remember going there on Sundays with my dad, back when they launched "Electric Ave". It was right around the time they discontinued the Auto Service.
My Dad referred to this place as "Monkey Wards"... The old Silvertone Guitar with the Amp that was the case for the guitar was ultra modern. Oddly, it played really well.
@@jackandblaze5956 THAT'S IF you can find them. The action on the neck was very good, but the amp speaker would finally fail into a unintelligible buzzing noise. Other Silvertone amps, with dual speakers worked real well... They used fuses though. We raised Hell with the stuff we collected for a band we had. But we moved on to Fenders, Gibsons, Greatsch and Marshall amps. What days those were... 1960s
@@lookeywho1287 Yes, we got an Amp from Sears about year after we got a guitar w/ amp in case "Silvertone" at Montgomery Wards... which was in 1963. The Amp had 2 12" speakers in a 4ft × 3.5 " cabinet and you could set the amp on top of the cabinet... For what seemed like a cheap guitar though, the guitar played really well. We saw Silvertone guitars at Sears too...
Flashback! We just moved to a new town, military family, and I will never forget the old man stopping to ask some guy where the nearest "Monkey Wards" was! I still call it that to this day. (62 YO.) My Pop also had a Silvertone guitar with the amp right in the case, but I thought that he had purchased it at Sears. My younger brother got ahold of it years later and created what I think EVH must have seen when he thought up his "Frankenstrat'!
My mom worked at Montgomery Ward as a switchboard operator from 1975 - 1986. I'll remember mom on the loud speaker: Attention shoppers, it is 9:00 and the store is closed. The door by the ladies Fashion Department will remain open for your convenience in leaving the store. Thank you for shopping at Montgomery Ward and have a nice evening. Everything we owned came from Wards too. Miss you mom!
Here in Canada, it is even worse. I was born in 1983 and when I was little we had Eaton's, Woodward's Zeller's, Woolco, Sears, and The Hudson's Bay Company. Today, only the Hudson's Bay Company remains out of those. Three went bankrupt. Walmart bought out Woolco and they were very successful. But Target bought out Zellers and were a complete and total bust. All were pre pandemic. Sears Canada failed, although some stores survived in the U.S. Toys R Us is the opposite. The Canadian stores survived and the American ones didn't. Go figure.
I recall going to Montgomery Ward one day in the middle of the week back in the early 1980's, because the store was not far from my workplace. There were ONLY two or three other customers in the entire store! Their days were numbered and MW was in life support!
I got my first credit at Montgomery Ward to buy a refrigerator when credit cards were rarely available. In those days layaway was the way to go. I also remember back in the early 70s collecting blue chips stamps everytime I'd go to the some stores, one could get assorted items from a catalog based on how many stamps one had... Beautiful times.
Working in the stock room at MW in my youth it was a nice place. People were calm and friendly. My family shopped there from my Grandparents youth and it was special to me. This makes me cry.
@@buickinvicta288 On thanksgiving day in 2020, my wife needed some eggs for deviled eggs for dinner. So I went to a Family Dollar store that was open and from the time I entered the store until I got done shopping, I was treated like garbage because I didn’t have a mask. Just yesterday I went back to that store and gave them a piece of my mind. I said that the way I was treated back then I will never shop there anymore and I will encourage others not to shop there either. He just shrugged his shoulders and said “ That’s your privilege “ 😐. Really nice customer service! Sarcasm off.
You decided to put other people's health at risk, as well as not follow a store's rules, by not wearing a mask. Then you go back to tell them off, rather than apologize. You're the one causing problems.
@@glennso47 I hear you, it's awful imo. And if people are so fond of their masks and actually believe they work, then they should feel fully protected wearing them. Instead they need to scold others. Dumb. I can't believe I still see folks wearing them outside and alone in their cars. LOL 😂🙄
There was a retail store near my house in the early 70s and I still have the Powr-Kraft tools I bought there. I worked for the Wards Catalog Distribution Center in Denver, CO, in the late 70s. Product arrived at the store by the trainload and I was originally hired to unload the train cars. Later I worked in fulfillment running all over the building gathering customer orders and putting shipping labels on them. I remember buying ALL my clothes from the Montgomery Ward catalog in the early 80s. In 1991 I worked as a mechanic in the Wards Auto Center in Livonia, MI. I can say that I miss Monkey Ward.
I was at the grand opening of the Southgate MI shopping center which had a Montgomery Ward and Federal's department store as anchors in 1958. Took my first helicopter ride there. Ended up working part of a summer in 1974. Store was torn down a few years ago.
My parent bought just about everything from Montgomery Ward , Sears and Western Auto, was not cheap junk neither. I had a Montgomery Ward bicycle that lasted me 8 years before I broke it beyond repair . I was HELL on it too. Just about ever appliance. electronic , tools etc... they purchased was still working when they passed away. My dad always bought his car parts and guns from Western Auto.
Life without memories how nothing to write about. I truly missed those 60s and 70s life style, those time is nothing but fun and lot of happiness. American 🇺🇸 got so many history to always remember
I remember getting the wish book from the Greenbax Stamps Redemption store. I was a kid and I loved to pretend I was furnishing a make-believe house of my own. I wouldgo through the Greenbax catalog and circle what I would put in my fantasy house! 😆
*I remember it, like yesterday when my Dad who was a Fireman, had the day off and took my two Brother's, my Sister and myself to the Falls Church, Va. Store at 7 Corners. He'd taken us there to buy **_Waxed Fruit,_** all the rage, in the 60s and we each bought two pieces of fruit while he bought the fruit bowl, for my Mom, for Christmas. My Grandpa called it **_Monkey Wards_** but if he was being especially playful, he'd call it **_Monkey Warts!_** It's sad to think that after 129 years, these Stores had to close. Gee wiz, Walmart, thanks so very much!*
@@trish7754 GE has owned many different companies unrelated to their core businesses over the years. Along with Wards, they have owned RCA, NBC Universal, GE Capital, and Penske Trucking. What do all of these have in common? They were all simply cash cows for GE.
You are absolutely right....I would give anything to ride in the back seat of our family wagon, listening to Kasey Kasem on the radio and going to Montgomery Ward on a Saturday morning with Mom and Dad.
You hit it right on the head - the reality is that The Good Old Days were lousy - if you don't believe me, look in your medicine cabinet. What we miss are our parents, our families, our pets, our neighbors, our town and our friends.
@@johnellizz Ok so what are you trying to prove that I did not work there? I don't understand the reasoning behind your comment. Ok, so it is Montgomery Ward. The bottom line is that I still worked there even if I added the s. I loved it so much that I worked at 3 different locations. BTW read thru these responses and I would say that more than 1/3 of folks refer to it as Montgomery Wards. Why can't you just appreciate the nostalgia instead of being the Spelling Bee champ.
My wife and I bought our first piece of furniture together at Wards in 1976-it was a kitchen table, so we could have a nice table for Thanksgiving dinner! The store was at Wonderland Mall in Livonia, Mich.. We kept the table for many, many years, using it at several cottages, until I regretfully donated it to a church rummage sale.
I shopped thier all the time. It was downtown. When downtown was still a great place too visit. Ar Christmas it was all done up with tress and Garland. Christmas music played. The department clerks were always well dressed and helpful. Of course back then we all dressed in our best it was kinda like a big event to go get a pair of new shoes or a new dress for Easter. They always had the best Easter hats too. They still have the catalogs going out to places around here in rural America. But most of its housewares and tech products. Great video
We have a rather large collection of Wards catalogs, from 1957 up through 1976. The pages are full of well made products, sold and serviced by Wards. Their Signature line of kitchen appliances were pretty much bulletproof.
All of us who remember these days, waiting for 'the Christmas book", shopping with our parents and loving it, eating at the lunch counters and never fearing we may be abducted or anything bad would happen, are blessed beyond understanding compared to kids today. I feel sorry for most of them masked or glued to computer screens and iPhones. You either get this or you don't, cannot really explain or share the joy. No one can steal these memories. They are yours to keep!
My wife then girlfriendat the timewere getting married we were struggling money wise ,the wedding gowns were expensive ,we were shopping in montgomery ward's one day and all the formal gowns were on sale due to liquidation.we wound up buying one for under $100.00 Montgomery Wards was part of our big day.Always liked that store,they had outlets that you could go and buy from the catalogs when you didn't feel like driving to the city, (50 miles away)
That was the era where women dressed like women. Appropriate dresses for the occasion. Like the women of today m, so many go with wearing hardly anything showing everything. All with fake hair, nails, breasts and other body parts. Then go and get all sorts of tattoos. Those were real women, that took care of their homes and families!!!
Never ceases to amaze me how Americans are regressing in terms of classiness and self dignity. Even poor people in old reels are dressed in slacks and decent shirts, nice hats, etc. So many today just don’t care that they look sloppy and like garbage.
I’m only 61, but I now usually go out in public dressed as business casual…you get better service and respect when you look professional…plus it just feels better. It is human nature to judge on appearances.
I remember going there and looking at the mini bikes with my brother. Every time we went to Wards. We were just too poor to get one. Of course we could always dream of getting one. That was sometime around 1970.
Amazon's business model is nothing but a new take on mail order. It saves money by not creating, printing, and distributing paper catalogs, as well as improved cash flow by only accepting electronic payments and having tighter inventory processes in its distribution centers. The tragedy of former players such as Sears, J.C. Penney, and Montgomery Ward, once the biggest names in the mail order business, is that they largely abandoned mail order because it was considered unprofitable shortly before technology would create opportunities that Bezos and Amazon would take advantage of. Because of their decades of experience in mail order and with a lot of the expensive distribution infrastructure already in place, the old lions would have roared.
It's funny Amazon has explored opening cashier-less stores. I don't how that's going. But the label company I work for makes label for their brand of milk "Happy Belly".
Man, 21 years ago I remember people worried about Amazon going under. My mom had received several hundred dollars worth of amazon gift certificates, and making a big deal about how she needed to spend them now because like all the other dot coms, they were not going to make it. She ended up buying an $800 digital camera. Pictures you didn’t even have to develop or scan?!? Pure sorcery! I honestly was just surprised that they sold more than just books,
I have a set of Power Kraft chisels and punches in my tool box. Got them as a Christmas present from my father-in-law, now long dead. Power Kraft was Ward's house-brand tools, their answer to Craftsman from Sears. Have a Montgomery Ward AC/DC arc welder too.
I remember Sears wish book at Christmas,always got my school clothes at Sears Then years later i was ordering my kids Christmas from Sears and there school clothes, really miss Sears😊✌
Oh the memories. I bought my Son's first school clothes there. My Grandfather loved Ward's. We lived 40 miles away, and if Grandma wanted, Grandpa got. Picture driving home with a huge rug strapped to the roof of your car. Yep, my Mom. Then the TV went out. Grandma could not miss her stories beginning at noon. Here I go with Grandpa in a Toyota. He buys their first big TV. I still don't know how I got it in the car. I laid the passenger seat down. Grandpa rode home crammed in the seat behind me. Grandma didn't miss her stories. LOL.
I suddenly realize just how much I miss those late 60’s & early 70’s. Montgomery Wards and Sears & Roebuck were considered fine shopping!
Hah. I remember it all from the 50s! I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not at my age.
Indeed, however it was all mostly crap. Or made by someone else and branded Kenmore for example. Bottom line, they where too expensive and low quality towards the end. Today I can find cheaper (and lower quality) and far better quality (but more expensive). The market (us) didn't want what Wards and Sears were selling anymore.
@@booboo699254 I'm sorry you feel that way but wr are referring to the 1940s and 1950s, not the 1980s.
@@booboo699254 Kenmore was a very well known and liked brand at one time. Apparently things changed.
@@joewoodchuck3824 Kenmore was a Sears House brand>>>>>>>>>
I use to love all those catalogs that were sent before Christmas. As a child I always scoped out the toys.
yup, i made a list, one for MW & one for Sears lol
Yeah There will never be days like this again
Yeah. Just try finding and buying one of those off Ebay! Depending on the year and season $50ish if ya just gotta have one. Most of us find it hard to justify spending that kind of money for something that was free. Christmas catalogs tend to be the most expensive.
Me too ☺️
@@kingforaday8725 I was recently gifted a huge 70s sears catalog. Those things are arguably even more fascinating now that they're aged, as it's essentially a window to the past.
Ok...I am curious. Does anyone out there remember when you did not see Christmas decorations (or hear Holiday music) until the day after Thanksgiving? At least where I live, the stores would do all of their decorating when the stores were closed on Thanksgiving. The following day, it was magical to hit the stores. Marshall Fields, Sears, Wards, Carson Pirie Scott etc. sure knew how to create holiday spirit. The Marshall Field windows were maginificent.
Life without memories how nothing to write about. I truly missed those 60s and 70s life style, those time is nothing but fun and lot of happiness. American 🇺🇸 got so many history to always remember
Gone are those days but I also remember them fondly...far cry from decorations at the end of October
Sure do! I owned a resale shop for 14 yrs. and refused to put Christmas decorations up until after Thanksgiving. I'll be old school until I meet my Maker! Yup, when the Christmas windows went on display in downtown Chicago, people were lined up 2 or 3 deep to view the windows at Fields and Carson Pirie's. I worked on Wacker Drive and walked to State St. to view the windows and shop there. Can't hardly do that anymore!
@@krislange1186 I hate swing Christmas decorations being sold in July...I bet your shop was full of Christmas cheer and spirit!..I I'm a traditional gal to when it comes to Christmas
I also enjoyed the wait ….. I was shopping in a fine jeweler in Detroit in 1970 I late September….it was a large store, several floors , I got off the elevator on the 3rd floor to Christmas decorations the earliest I ever encountered
For those of us 50 and older this is a walk down memory lane.
Yep. For those of us who are older millennials (80s born) as well. So many of these places were such a big part of my childhood! Can't believe sometimes that most of them are gone.
So true. At least you have those memories. My kids, 17 & 20, only have RUclips to see what it was like. And of course my cool stories. Lol
We’re a dying breed. 😕
Yes it is,I love these videos.All my daughters look at me and roll there eyes.So sad ladies,you missed it all.they had customer service back then,you missed that too.😐
@@scubaguy007 every human on earth is a dying breed
I miss all these stores and malls, the excitement of walking around and seeing everything, hoping for sales, trying things on, being able to get things right away, the human connection ... shopping on line is just not the same....
Agreed. I'm old-school. I'm not particularly interested in buying many clothes online. I always like feeling it, trying it on, inspecting the fabric, etc. Even moreso with shoes.
@@RETROGEMS Sadly I do shop for clothes on line now but I draw the line at shoes, those I will always buy in person lol
💜
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. We loved those times so much that we now need to go to the Internet, the thing that actually took the stores from us to revisit. Stranger than fiction.
Malls still exist.
My mother use to take me to montgomery ward and Woolworth when I was a child. We would eat lunch at the lunch counter. God I miss those days
Woolworths.... wow. I remember going to that store in the 80’s with my mother and great great aunt. Man, that lady could dress. Tons of clothes in a very small space.....To go back, just for a day right?😊
Life was simple. Everyone and everything is serious drama today. Yes I miss these days. We were poor but happy.
Me Too😥
I remember as a child shopping at Woolsworths with my grandmother and having lunch there.
@@psilvakimo me too.
As a kid I was so excited to finally get the Christmas catalog in the mail, and I’d look at it constantly, wishing and dreaming. It was great fun.
School clothes for me 😊
Those catalogs were everything you wished for and more.
I took these great stores for granted I just always thought they'd always be there.
Walmart and Amazon has been putting everyone else out of business.
I think everybody did.
Yes, me too sadly
Sadly I can’t say I ever got the chance to enjoy them.... I was only born in ‘86 and only really got to see the former shells of what they once used to be. How sad all of this is now gone, manufacturing is outsourced to mainly China and other parts of the world, and pride for running department stores is only making more and more money with a watered down experience of what it once was. This video made me sad and nostalgic for a past I never got to live, or did I? Perhaps in a former life....
@@daniellegarcia8299 And the VERY ONES now running America are in bed with china,Wveryone hated Trump but he was telling the TRUTH!. He had to go so they cheated!. And stole 80 million peoples votes!😡
I worked for Wards for 21 years. We found out on the news they was closing all stores. We all was watching it on tv in electric Avenue inside the store. People who work their for decades was all crying. Thanks for the memories.
wow. you must have seen it all. the changes in everything. i would go to electric ave. for the latest cd's on my lunch break from sears. the mall was too cool and to work there even cooler.✌😎
Life can be tough at times.
Friendly correction; "they WERE crying and they WERE closing" Have a nice day.
@@juans6639 Friendly reminder Steven Page former front man Bare Naked Ladies told me the same thing over a year ago. I write what I want not what you want. You say it your way and I will say it my way. I don't change for you or anyone else
@@RunningFreeForeverFree Sho Nuf, honey child!
I used to work at Montgomery Ward in the 70’s. It had a little of everything. I remember working right across the isle from the, Carmel corn, warmed nuts and candy counter. It always smelled so good. They had a restaurant in the store that I worked at. Great memories.
I remember a lot of these stores like woolworths and some of the old K-marts had lunch counters with stools. Been there as a kid.
I remember a lot of these stores like woolworths and some of the old K-marts had lunch counters with stools. Been there as a kid.
@@joesmith4222 Yes I remember eating at the counter at SS Kresge as a kid in the 60’s. The ladies behind the counter wore white uniforms with hairnets. Since I was the only girl of 5, my mom would take me there for lunch or dessert when we went shopping. My favorite was white bread, butter with jam in those little containers and hot chocolate. Why white bread? Because we were not allowed to eat white bread as my dad said it was not healthy. We ate whole grain bread, rye, pumpernickel, wheat etc. (He was ahead of his time as he was correct) but, It was such a treat to have white bread, I thought. (Remember those were the days of white “wonder bread” and all kids ate wonder bread in their lunch at school). Great memories of those days.
@@g-bgcg LOL..remember the paper straws that would get soggy if you took too long do drink your pop or milk shake? "Bendy" straws were a new and novel invention.
I worked the cafeteria in Norwalk in 82.
I miss catalogs from Wards and Sears. Thanks for posting and the history lesson!
JCPenney too¡
we ALMOST have the same last name. :)
Me too.
I totally agree. The Sears Catalog was actually an advance preview of the internet Market. Sears already had all the warehouses in place around the country IN PLACE FOR THE ONLINE market and yet that slip through their hands EVEN with years of it showing it was coming.
Now shopping has gone back to catalogs just online. Whats old is new again.
Mom actually sobbed for a moment when Wards went out of business.We had Wards,Sears,Penneys,Woolworths what's happened to our lovely world.?
It has been taken over by people like Jeff Bezos who thinks everyone should be replaced by robots.😒
All this generation wants is amazon
@Juli Jeremiah 29:11 and this gets us what?
It’s been ruined and infected by idiotologist , innovation is gone. People are only motivated for $. Not creation. Nothing is pure anymore
Liberals and communism
The Sears "Toy Book" as we called it was magical. By the time Christmas rolled around, the pages of that book in our house we hanging on by a thread lol. I knew exactly where "my stuff" was...99% of which I never got!
Lol, I went for the high ticket items to.
C Howard exactly ❤️that is the book we picked our Christmas toys from ❤️😢
The Christmas toy book we get now is from Blains Farm and Fleet.
@@glennso47 Canadian Tire for us Canadians. Lol
How fun it was to go through the catalog and circle everything I wanted!
Funny... looking at the pictures of the parking lots... some cars just leave their windows down.... what a different time it was then....
We left our doors unlocked and windows down. Never thought twice about it.
Even in the 80’s we left our doors n windows open n unlocked. Actually in the country I left my doors unlocked at our home. It was open for anyone who wanted to visit even if we weren’t home. We had nice things but we never cared about things. I didn’t even want people to knock, just come on in. Now I double lock everything and lock my car up.
I noticed the open car windows. Now you can’t leave anything, even in a LOCKED car. But today’s generation won’t know the difference. They are growing up with crime, over-population, incivility, chronic lying, camped out all day behind their phones.
When I was a little girl I love viewing the new catalog for Christmas dreams(wishes). After my mom got the new spring one in the mail, I got to cut "paper dolls", her clothes, and home items. I fixed a couple of cardboard boxes by gluing and coloring the inside of my new dollhouse. The kids today have missed out on a lot of imagination and fun!
I get the Vermont Country Catalogue and told my husband today that when I was little I would have cut all those pictures in it out and played with them like I did with Penney's, Sears, and Wards. ☺
I miss Montgomery Ward😥🏪🛍️
They are back in business, but only as an on-line retailer.
I Miss Montgomery Ward Too..
@@patricksaxon3983
I still get catalogs in the mail.
I spent a lot of money at monkey wards. Great store. Gone like a lot of other good things.
@@dennybro1
It's not gone it's been reopened. I get catalogs all the time.
This is making me cry for the good old days when I was young.
Ever been to a store called Service Merchandise? That one was a darn nice store too
I just had to add...that I think we all, collectively, have lost something. These stores folding, more and more of us behind a computer or mobile device, buying and selling. A lot of people have lost that special little feeling that always accompanied just a shopping trip to the local department store or mall. A feeling of anticipation, being around a bunch of other people with the same pursuits in mind, having random friendly chats and encounters on your shopping expeditions, the cool feeling of relief and relaxation when you could FINALLY get off your feet and slip into a booth at the local restaurant or cafe, maybe the nearest Woolworths' (which lasted until the mid 1990s in my hometown) for a grilled cheese or salisbury steak platter. I remember all of it and treasure the memories. :)
You are absolutely right. I treasure it deeply and pray everyday for it to all come back again.
So many memories flood my mind of Woolworths next door to JCPenney in Lodi, Sears & Montgomery Wards in Stockton, western auto, rexall drugs, thrifty drugs, Longs drug store, Newberry's, Ben Franklin,.... The thrill of going to just wander the store, eating at the soda fountain counter, being old enough for the clothes that were in the mezzanine level at JC Penneys, ... Today people don't want to see anyone else when they shop. Sad 😢😭
I was born in the mid 80s into a family who were early adopters of computers and the internet. So I’m kind of uniquely old enough to remember that era fondly while also experiencing the migration to a “screen based” life.
Sometimes I think I’m just looking through nostalgia colored glasses. But I really miss the experience of bustling malls and the human element.
The irony of me typing this on my iPhone is not lost on me however.
I feel lucky that as a young adult I could still experience shopping at Sears, Wards, Hutzlers, and Hoschild-Kohn. I remember my Mom taking my sister and I to the Wards at 4:13 when we were just kids. They had a catalog pick-up there that Mom visited often, and my sis and I saw it as a great treat to be allowed to go along. As I got older, this particular store went downhill, and I was so sorry to see it go. It was like losing a member of the family.
Same thing for Penney’s.
I feel the same with Malta what Waltons in Melbourne and Sydney in Victoria Melbourne in Australia in the 80s shopping at Waltons and done even Myers up has been taken over by Coles is really lesson that's glamour like it's stuck a Target store now it's like a really generic department store
You must have lived in the Baltimore area!
anybody in Canada remember Steinberg's miracle Mart?
Yes this brings back my childhood !! My mom bought most of our school cloths from montgomery wards orderd a lot of stuff from the catolog too !! I sure miss those days !! 💖
Montgomery Ward was the creator of Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer. So in a way, their legend will out live all the other stores.
True -- and I had always thought it was Gene Autrey.
Actually it was written by Robert L May. Published in 1939 by Montgomery Ward. I had to look this up. I remember when the Rankin/Bass production of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on TV in 1964. I was 9 years old. We did get a color TV until 1965. Gene Autry was the snowman, reindeer, and narrator. Even though the Song was the same from the original book the story line was different. I had a record album with the Montgomery Ward version when I was very young. So there were 2 versions.
"Get your facts straight
Robert L. May created the
character and the Montgomery
Wards were apart of advertising
for it but they didn't create the character,
and Gene Autry recorded the song and of
course made it a hit."-🤔🌐🌎🌍🌏🌐..
Don't you see they want to DESTROY OUR HERITAGE!.Oldsmobile&
Pontiac was destroyed by barry&manchele in his 8 years destroying america.
Now we have a criminal in dc using small case for the thieves that cheated their way into our highest office😡😡😡😡
Thank You Very Much For Sharing.. I Did Not Know That..
I remember spending hours looking at the catalog.
For many years I had a Montgomery Ward riding lawnmower. I still have my farm ranch coat from Montgomery wards with blanket lining and still in good shape
@Steve Acho kool 👍🏼
@@tiandao8503 You won’t get that ordered today is Bradford white 5 to 7 years if you’re lucky
Just reminds me of my grandma. Waiting around for her to finish shopping here. The smell of the store and sound of the tile while she tells me to sit down and behave. I miss her always.
How beautiful! I'm a third generation British-American, and my parents lived during the 1950s and they loved the Montgomery Ward a lot!
Memories for sure! We used to shop there all the time. Thanks for sharing this with us 👍
Wards is open online!
👍🏼😎👍🏼
Recollection Road I am thankful to Have when I was young shopped at Wards, Sears, Woolworths and so Many more Great old stores. Shopping was Fun and exciting back then! I still Have a Large 1967 Sears Catalogs in good shape I found of My Moms, and saved. I as 20 years old in 67. Thank you So Much for this!
Remember WT Grants? That was another big department store that folded years ago. People used to save the old Sears catalogue for use in the outdoor privy and read it and then use pages for toilet paper. Hemorrhoid City!😱
@@glennso47 yes, I remember Grant's, we had one in Toledo. I was really young, but I do remember shopping there with my mom.
You are so right, shopping was a big deal, we only went a few times a month, but made a day of it, lunch at Kresges lunch counter, and the bus home. Maybe a cab if we money left over, lol, great memories!
@@SD-nh5yr I worked in a Grants Store in Rockford Illinois. I worked in the office and I remember that the store manager would have us lie for him. “If anyone calls tell them‘I’m not here.’” One time the district manager called and wanted the store manager. I told him that the “boss says he’s not here. “. The store manager was not a happy camper and when the opportunity came to lay people off, I was one of the first to be gone. I was actually happy because I didn’t have to lie for him anymore.😁
@@SD-nh5yr it was a big deal for me when my parents would take an occasional shopping trip to Clinton Iowa to shop at the KMART store and the Wards and Eagle Supermarket. They were saving trading stamps and it was a really big deal to go to Rock Island Illinois for redemption of the stamps for neat schtuff. I was a fan of a kiddie show “Grandpa Happy “ It was presented on WHBF channel 4 in Rock Island and we were able drive by the studios which is just a plain looking building but I was excited to see where “Grandpa Happy “ was. 😁 That was back in the 1950s when a lot of local television stations had their own live kiddie shows.
They were great stores
Who remembers Wendy Wards? They had a modeling school for young ladies. Me and my sister went there every Saturday, and at the end of the course, we had a fashion show - wow - what memories!
I did that!!!! What a great memory.
Me and my sister too; in Houston.
I’d forgotten about that!!
I did the same.
Loved Montgomery Wards! All the good stores are long gone. Really enjoyed your video and just subscribed to your channel.
Beautiful footage of better days!
In the early footage, it shows that people wouldn't even lock their cars and could leave their windows open. What the hell happened to us as a society?!
It became a dog eat dog world.
Bussing
What happened to us, it's called central banking.
🏍️ The Truth is ugly. You wouldn't want to even read it. 🙈
Democrats !!!
My Dad's favorite store. We had a catalog outlet in our town. I still have the Sea King canoe that we bought my Dad for Christmas in 1984.
My small town had only a Sears catalog store, Ben Franklin, Western Auto, and some Mom & Pop stores. So when Wards opened a small store in the mid seventies, it was a BIG DEAL. They threw a huge Grand Opening party that included elephant rides for the kids! I got my first new saddle there, too. Great memories.
Evergreen Plaza at 95th and Western. I always remember the vacuum display in Wards where the vacuum nozzle was blowing out air. It kept a beach ball suspended in air while it constantly spun. It will always amaze me! Born in 1959.
I think I'm going to have to start making my clothes again. I don't know about other people, but I can't just buy an article of clothing online. I need to see it, feel the fabric, try it on before I decide to get it. Comfort is the most important thing to me.
An old lady who runs a tailor shop scolded me for buying clothes at department stores. She said that they are really bad quality.
@@glennso47 She's right.
Yes but where do you buy good fabric?
@@sparrowsfriend I've always gone to JoAnn's Fabrics.
Same here. And even trying on clothes at the store: no size is true. I currently own clothes in 8, 10, 12, 14 and they all fit. Plus what is current fashion isn’t my taste at all.
Montgomery Weird? I remember that my dad bought a power lawn mower and a boat from Wards when it was in Clinton Iowa. That mower was a reel type cutter and it lasted until my folk both died.
We had a microwave from Wards that only died a few years ago. The thing was 30 years old at least.
When I moved out of my parent's house and bought my first house in 1979, I bought a tv and many other items at Montgomery Ward. This Wards was at Wheaton Plaza in Silver Spring, Maryland. I miss Wards. A Target is now where the Wards used to be.
I like old classic cars and enjoyed looking at the cars in the parking lots in the pictures from this video.
I remember that Wards, too. I haven't luved in the area in long time, and barely recognized anything when my husband and I drove through on a whim. I spent many happy hours at the plaza with my parents and grandparents.
OMG. At 4:40 in the video, appears a gray 4 door, 1949 Plymouth Special DeLuxe. The day that I turned 17, I purchased an exact car as pictured in the video. It was my birthday, April 1960. I had just acquired my drivers permit in NJ. Wish I had that car now. Sorry for jumping off topic. It was just such a surprise to see the EXACT car that I once owned.
Strange
I just had a memory lane moment at dozing off of the auto parts store (western auto )
In our small town in California it was the only place for 35 miles a kid could get his bicycle inner tube and patch kit
We lived in Chicago by six-corners and Sears was our family store.
Sad-I loved shopping at Ward's, Sears, Penney's & K-Mart with my family. Great memories!
My father bought a 1965 Plymouth Belvedere 2 and it had Montgomery Ward's Town & Country shocks.... This was around 2010. Still have several Montgomery Wards 10 W 30 motor oil in the paper cartons that use the detachable pour spouts.
I just love these old pics of the simple things and I bet those cars are worth a fortune
I used to love pouring through the catalogs at Christmas time circling stuff I wanted .
Life without memories how nothing to write about. I truly missed those 60s and 70s life style, those time is nothing but fun and lot of happiness. American 🇺🇸 got so many history to always remember
I was never in a Montgomery Ward Store, but it looked magical and a happy place:)!! I was a Child from the 70s to the 80s and I had a Green Toy Kitchen Set, like the one in this Catalog:)!! And I also LOVED the Floral Toy Tea Set in this Catalog:)!! Also, the Ladies were so feminine and I so LOVED some of the dresses as much as the pearl choker on the Lady with the beautiful coral color dress with matching coral color sweater:)!! Thank you for sharing a part of our American past:)!!
You will never see that kind of magic at Walmart, Sears was so nice looking during christmas time.
@@BarnabasCollinsXIII That's due to the fact Sears had more to choose from and better quality items.
Yes! The Montgomery Wards was our go to and it actually had a full size cafeteria inside where we enjoyed lunch. The good old days 🥰
I used to shop at the Montgomery Ward's with my family when I was a kid. We didn't have much money, but we scrimped and saved to buy the best so it lasted longer. Montgomery Ward's offered very reasonable, flexible payments and worked with us when dad lost his ability to work and mom was the breadwinner. I always liked these stores and the staff were always so friendly to everyone!👍👌 It stinks that a good store like this is becoming almost extinct. But I have good memories! 😀😀😀
My earliest memory of Montgomery Ward was in San Jose ,Ca. in 1959. We had recently arrived from Texas and I was 12 year old.The store was in downtown SJ and was the main store up until the late 60s when other branch stores were built.One thing that stood out was the wooden floor . It must have been built in the 20s if not earlier.
Man, you're hitting all my nostalgia feelings here...I love your content but it's also a little sad to see how many places of my childhood are long gone or on their way to extinction. I remember the local Montgomery Wards' so freaking well. My family bought everything from furniture to shoes there. It was a constant part of my shopping life until around 2001, I believe, when one day we drove by and it was closed...for good. I was shocked as I hadn't been expecting what I considered this giant of retail to shut down ever! But it was gone and we shifted our shopping to Wal-Mart (insert rolling eyes gif). I'll always remember Wards though and the fun times I had shopping there with my family, eating at the little cafe too!
Back when cities were clean, people had class and grace, and family values and respect were the norm. I miss the old days.
The Homeless and Beggars were Few.
If I recall the late 60s had so many issues with litter and trash on American highways that it brought us the “Pitch-in” and “give a hoot dont pollute” programs to help teach children about not being litter bugs and keeping America clean. We had the same problems back then.
There have always been issues. We’re just more aware of them now.
Amen
The world is constantly changing, nothing stands still, or goes back. Never the less, it's not always a good thing.
What's old is new again
@@willoughby1888 exactly
I think it is crucial that we admit to ourselves that reality. I am a young person who cannot inherently understand it when people reminisce about times I am wholly unfamiliar with; however, I also recognize that I will have a similar mentality -- or at least be exposed to a similar mentality -- a number of decades into the future. I will be faced with a world I no longer understand or feel as if I fit within; I will be an alien to this world, stuck in some era to some extent permanently. That can be a difficult reality to face, and I can only hope to face it with dignity and not mere cynicism.
@@willoughby1888 That's a sensible response. I feel as if I have observed many older folks who seem very insecure with their present reality, which is what builds my impression of aging, but everyone is different and I know some older folks who adjust very well (I also know some younger people who idolize past times they've never actually experienced). I wonder what influences these disparate outcomes.
@@willoughby1888 That is very true. I found a copy of the book you recommended and am reading it now. Thanks for bringing it up
I was there, at Baybrook Mall in Houston Tx.. I still have my Sharp microwave oven I purchased there. Boy, time passes by fast! Lots of memories: sad that W didn't keep up after existing for so long.
i loved the Christmas catalogs & can remember the smell of walking into their stores, kind of a fresh, new scent. i so enjoyed your pictures, thank you 😊
I just love this whole series. Thanks so much for taking the time to make and research these videos. It's so nostalgic and sad to see how relaxed life was and how shocking and overly stressed it is now.
I remember going there on Sundays with my dad, back when they launched "Electric Ave". It was right around the time they discontinued the Auto Service.
One of the iconic department store being closed down from discount stores and online shopping
My Dad referred to this place as "Monkey Wards"... The old Silvertone Guitar with the Amp that was the case for the guitar was ultra modern. Oddly, it played really well.
I'm not a collector but I heard those old Silvertone guitars are worth a lot these days, especially with the amp.
@@jackandblaze5956 THAT'S IF you can find them.
The action on the neck was very good, but the amp speaker would finally fail into a unintelligible buzzing noise.
Other Silvertone amps, with dual speakers worked real well... They used fuses though. We raised Hell with the stuff we collected for a band we had.
But we moved on to Fenders, Gibsons, Greatsch and Marshall amps.
What days those were... 1960s
Silvertone was made for, and promoted for Sears
@@lookeywho1287
Yes, we got an Amp from Sears about year after we got a guitar w/ amp in case "Silvertone" at Montgomery Wards... which was in 1963. The Amp had 2 12" speakers in a 4ft × 3.5 " cabinet and you could set the amp on top of the cabinet...
For what seemed like a cheap guitar though, the guitar played really well. We saw Silvertone guitars at Sears too...
Flashback! We just moved to a new town, military family, and I will never forget the old man stopping to ask some guy where the nearest "Monkey Wards" was! I still call it that to this day. (62 YO.) My Pop also had a Silvertone guitar with the amp right in the case, but I thought that he had purchased it at Sears. My younger brother got ahold of it years later and created what I think EVH must have seen when he thought up his "Frankenstrat'!
That time of life back then I think people were happier. Simple life you enjoyed everyday
I still see fences put up by Montgomery ward I know what I bought there lasted forever great quality Sears too
My mom worked at Montgomery Ward as a switchboard operator from 1975 - 1986. I'll remember mom on the loud speaker: Attention shoppers, it is 9:00 and the store is closed. The door by the ladies Fashion Department will remain open for your convenience in leaving the store. Thank you for shopping at Montgomery Ward and have a nice evening. Everything we owned came from Wards too. Miss you mom!
Lovely video.Sad to say after this pandemic there won’t be many department stores left.
Just Amazon.....
@@anderander5662 Maybe Walmart and target.
Here in Canada, it is even worse. I was born in 1983 and when I was little we had Eaton's, Woodward's Zeller's, Woolco, Sears, and The Hudson's Bay Company. Today, only the Hudson's Bay Company remains out of those. Three went bankrupt. Walmart bought out Woolco and they were very successful. But Target bought out Zellers and were a complete and total bust. All were pre pandemic. Sears Canada failed, although some stores survived in the U.S. Toys R Us is the opposite. The Canadian stores survived and the American ones didn't. Go figure.
This ‘so called pandemic’ was created.......to destroy just about everything.
@@Melinda8162 churches, stores, restaurants, clubs, concerts, schools.....and on and on
I always enjoyed the heck out of the Christmas catalog... I would spend hours gazing through the pages..
Wow i remember when our Montgomery wards store closed in 2000..my grandpa was an appliance sales man in the W&D dept for over 40 years..
I recall going to Montgomery Ward one day in the middle of the week back in the early 1980's, because the store was not far from my workplace. There were ONLY two or three other customers in the entire store! Their days were numbered and MW was in life support!
Love the 60's cars sitting in the parking lot. Even Ramblers ran back then.
You sure do have some excellent videos. Great memories.
I got my first credit at Montgomery Ward to buy a refrigerator when credit cards were rarely available. In those days layaway was the way to go. I also remember back in the early 70s collecting blue chips stamps everytime I'd go to the some stores, one could get assorted items from a catalog based on how many stamps one had... Beautiful times.
Working in the stock room at MW in my youth it was a nice place. People were calm and friendly. My family shopped there from my Grandparents youth and it was special to me. This makes me cry.
Riverside tires were good, along with Airline radios and TV's. I missed my opportunity to make such a purchase.
We had one in the town near where I grew up. Thank you for this, I simply love your videos. ❤️
Stores used to be very nice inside with respectful and knowledgeable employees now we have walmart
It was a treat to shop in a beautiful store and a lovely lunch. It's all crap now.
@@buickinvicta288 On thanksgiving day in 2020, my wife needed some eggs for deviled eggs for dinner. So I went to a Family Dollar store that was open and from the time I entered the store until I got done shopping, I was treated like garbage because I didn’t have a mask. Just yesterday I went back to that store and gave them a piece of my mind. I said that the way I was treated back then I will never shop there anymore and I will encourage others not to shop there either. He just shrugged his shoulders and said “ That’s your privilege “ 😐. Really nice customer service! Sarcasm off.
@@glennso47 they could of had you leave . Disrespectful of the other customers.
You decided to put other people's health at risk, as well as not follow a store's rules, by not wearing a mask. Then you go back to tell them off, rather than apologize. You're the one causing problems.
@@glennso47 I hear you, it's awful imo. And if people are so fond of their masks and actually believe they work, then they should feel fully protected wearing them. Instead they need to scold others. Dumb. I can't believe I still see folks wearing them outside and alone in their cars. LOL 😂🙄
There was a retail store near my house in the early 70s and I still have the Powr-Kraft tools I bought there. I worked for the Wards Catalog Distribution Center in Denver, CO, in the late 70s. Product arrived at the store by the trainload and I was originally hired to unload the train cars. Later I worked in fulfillment running all over the building gathering customer orders and putting shipping labels on them. I remember buying ALL my clothes from the Montgomery Ward catalog in the early 80s. In 1991 I worked as a mechanic in the Wards Auto Center in Livonia, MI. I can say that I miss Monkey Ward.
Thank you for these fantastic videos. Very informative and soothing in nostalgic way. Music is perfect as well.
I was at the grand opening of the Southgate MI shopping center which had a Montgomery Ward and Federal's department store as anchors in 1958. Took my first helicopter ride there. Ended up working part of a summer in 1974. Store was torn down a few years ago.
My parent bought just about everything from Montgomery Ward , Sears and Western Auto, was not cheap junk neither. I had a Montgomery Ward bicycle that lasted me 8 years before I broke it beyond repair . I was HELL on it too. Just about ever appliance. electronic , tools etc... they purchased was still working when they passed away. My dad always bought his car parts and guns from Western Auto.
My mom always ordered clothes and Christmas through the great Montgomery Wards Christmas catalog, we kids would have pages ear marked. Great memories.
Life without memories how nothing to write about. I truly missed those 60s and 70s life style, those time is nothing but fun and lot of happiness. American 🇺🇸 got so many history to always remember
Wards, Sears and J.C. Penny. My parents always shopped in these stores. I enjoyed going with them when I was young.
Loosing Montgomery Ward, was like unto the death of an old, dear friend.
Loved looking thru these and Sears catalogs as a kid !! Esp at Christmas time😁😃!
I remember getting the wish book from the Greenbax Stamps Redemption store. I was a kid and I loved to pretend I was furnishing a make-believe house of my own. I wouldgo through the Greenbax catalog and circle what I would put in my fantasy house! 😆
It's painful to watch videos like this, being old enough to remember how good it was then and how screwed up it is now.
I certainly remember helping to decorate a window Thanksgiving night. I was 20 and working there.
*I remember it, like yesterday when my Dad who was a Fireman, had the day off and took my two Brother's, my Sister and myself to the Falls Church, Va. Store at 7 Corners. He'd taken us there to buy **_Waxed Fruit,_** all the rage, in the 60s and we each bought two pieces of fruit while he bought the fruit bowl, for my Mom, for Christmas. My Grandpa called it **_Monkey Wards_** but if he was being especially playful, he'd call it **_Monkey Warts!_** It's sad to think that after 129 years, these Stores had to close. Gee wiz, Walmart, thanks so very much!*
My dad did the same in the late 60s and 70s . Same store .
I bought a lawn mower from Montgomery Ward in 1986. I still use it every summer.
GE was the last company to own Wards, they bled the company dry and didn't do anything to save it.
And as a bundler, paid zero taxes in 2008-now.
We have known how bad GE has been for many many years. We have NOT bought anything with GE's name on it. Not even one light bulb.
@@trish7754 GE has owned many different companies unrelated to their core businesses over the years. Along with Wards, they have owned RCA, NBC Universal, GE Capital, and Penske Trucking. What do all of these have in common? They were all simply cash cows for GE.
Such great memories. Thanks so much!
I don't necessarily miss these stores but miss the people that took me to these stores. 😔
You are absolutely right....I would give anything to ride in the back seat of our family wagon, listening to Kasey Kasem on the radio and going to Montgomery Ward on a Saturday morning with Mom and Dad.
@@mano1971music yup, we always had station wagons, either go to monkey ward or sears. Life moves too fast.
Oh gosh, me too ❤️
You hit it right on the head - the reality is that The Good Old Days were lousy - if you don't believe me, look in your medicine cabinet. What we miss are our parents, our families, our pets, our neighbors, our town and our friends.
What an amazing RUclips channel you have. We cannot thank you enough for sharing your videos. God bless 🙏
I am proud to say that I worked at Montgomery Wards. An American retail legend.
I did too.
But if you worked there why can't you remember that it has always been named Montgomery Ward? Not Montgomery Wards with an s?
@@johnellizz Ok so what are you trying to prove that I did not work there? I don't understand the reasoning behind your comment. Ok, so it is Montgomery Ward. The bottom line is that I still worked there even if I added the s. I loved it so much that I worked at 3 different locations. BTW read thru these responses and I would say that more than 1/3 of folks refer to it as Montgomery Wards. Why can't you just appreciate the nostalgia instead of being the Spelling Bee champ.
@@rvb4187 So you just 'added an S'? We don't do that around here, buddy!
@@johnellizz ok spelling bee chump.
what a great channel. I am not a fan of all this social media etc but to see this old stuff be so accessible is really a blessing
My wife and I bought our first piece of furniture together at Wards in 1976-it was a kitchen table, so we could have a nice table for Thanksgiving dinner! The store was at Wonderland Mall in Livonia, Mich.. We kept the table for many, many years, using it at several cottages, until I regretfully donated it to a church rummage sale.
I shopped thier all the time. It was downtown. When downtown was still a great place too visit. Ar Christmas it was all done up with tress and Garland. Christmas music played. The department clerks were always well dressed and helpful. Of course back then we all dressed in our best it was kinda like a big event to go get a pair of new shoes or a new dress for Easter. They always had the best Easter hats too. They still have the catalogs going out to places around here in rural America. But most of its housewares and tech products. Great video
We have a rather large collection of Wards catalogs, from 1957 up through 1976. The pages are full of well made products, sold and serviced by Wards. Their Signature line of kitchen appliances were pretty much bulletproof.
All of us who remember these days, waiting for 'the Christmas book", shopping with our parents and loving it, eating at the lunch counters and never fearing we may be abducted or anything bad would happen, are blessed beyond understanding compared to kids today. I feel sorry for most of them masked or glued to computer screens and iPhones. You either get this or you don't, cannot really explain or share the joy. No one can steal these memories. They are yours to keep!
My wife then girlfriendat the timewere getting married we were struggling money wise ,the wedding gowns were expensive ,we were shopping in montgomery ward's one day and all the formal gowns were on sale due to liquidation.we wound up buying one for under $100.00 Montgomery Wards was part of our big day.Always liked that store,they had outlets that you could go and buy from the catalogs when you didn't feel like driving to the city, (50 miles away)
That was the era where women dressed like women. Appropriate dresses for the occasion. Like the women of today m, so many go with wearing hardly anything showing everything. All with fake hair, nails, breasts and other body parts. Then go and get all sorts of tattoos. Those were real women, that took care of their homes and families!!!
@@MariaHernandez-jd2bi 💕💕💕
@@MariaHernandez-jd2bi #FACTS
@@MariaHernandez-jd2bi glad to see there are still old school people out there.
Nothing takes me back to my childhood like your videos. Keep em coming.
Never ceases to amaze me how Americans are regressing in terms of classiness and self dignity. Even poor people in old reels are dressed in slacks and decent shirts, nice hats, etc. So many today just don’t care that they look sloppy and like garbage.
I will plead guilty to your charges and I really don't mind. As long as it's clean and I'm modestly attired I will wear what I'm comfortable in.
Yes, society has become to casual.
To some extant I still see this in many older black Americans. Both men and women.
Short pants and tees are todays look .
I’m only 61, but I now usually go out in public dressed as business casual…you get better service and respect when you look professional…plus it just feels better. It is human nature to judge on appearances.
I remember going there and looking at the mini bikes with my brother. Every time we went to Wards. We were just too poor to get one. Of course we could always dream of getting one. That was sometime around 1970.
50 years from now people will ask, “Remember Amazon?” They will answer “是的” (yes, in Chinese).
Amazon's business model is nothing but a new take on mail order. It saves money by not creating, printing, and distributing paper catalogs, as well as improved cash flow by only accepting electronic payments and having tighter inventory processes in its distribution centers. The tragedy of former players such as Sears, J.C. Penney, and Montgomery Ward, once the biggest names in the mail order business, is that they largely abandoned mail order because it was considered unprofitable shortly before technology would create opportunities that Bezos and Amazon would take advantage of. Because of their decades of experience in mail order and with a lot of the expensive distribution infrastructure already in place, the old lions would have roared.
It's funny Amazon has explored opening cashier-less stores. I don't how that's going. But the label company I work for makes label for their brand of milk "Happy Belly".
No this kingdom is coming to an end.
Man, 21 years ago I remember people worried about Amazon going under. My mom had received several hundred dollars worth of amazon gift certificates, and making a big deal about how she needed to spend them now because like all the other dot coms, they were not going to make it. She ended up buying an $800 digital camera. Pictures you didn’t even have to develop or scan?!? Pure sorcery! I honestly was just surprised that they sold more than just books,
@@RRRIBEYE like Walmart and Rakuten?
I have a set of Power Kraft chisels and punches in my tool box. Got them as a Christmas present from my father-in-law, now long dead. Power Kraft was Ward's house-brand tools, their answer to Craftsman from Sears. Have a Montgomery Ward AC/DC arc welder too.
I remember Sears wish book at Christmas,always got my school clothes at Sears
Then years later i was ordering my kids Christmas from Sears and there school clothes, really miss Sears😊✌
Oh the memories. I bought my Son's first school clothes there. My Grandfather loved Ward's. We lived 40 miles away, and if Grandma wanted, Grandpa got. Picture driving home with a huge rug strapped to the roof of your car. Yep, my Mom. Then the TV went out. Grandma could not miss her stories beginning at noon. Here I go with Grandpa in a Toyota. He buys their first big TV. I still don't know how I got it in the car. I laid the passenger seat down. Grandpa rode home crammed in the seat behind me. Grandma didn't miss her stories. LOL.