When I was a child I used to pretend my family was rich and I could have anything I wanted. I would draw a circle around everything I wanted in the Christmas catalog.
@@zenolasmalls2760 And yes, I still have my 1955 catalog, no, no color photos - and two 1960s catalogs to go with my 1902 catalog (a copy of the original) - get a new bicycle for $9.00, a new organ for $12.00, and a pound of candy for 3 cents ...
My Kenmore fridge from Sears is over 30 years old and still running like a champ :). Even though I might save a little energy by getting a new one, the "planned obsoleteness" of today's appliances keeps me hanging onto it :).
@@Slithey7433 in 1980, I bought the largest set Craftsman sold. 1105 pieces. 1/4 drive - 3/4 drive sockets. complete standard and metric. I paid $3200.00 for it and it had a roll-away that set in a cart with a side box. I still have it. Although they didn't break, I exchanged some sockets because they were worn. The replacement sockets always break.
Our Sears had 2 buildings and the smaller one (maybe a garden center?) was turned into THE North Pole at Christmas and I remember being in my room and turning around when my dad said we were going to see Santa one random evening- I was only 4! But it made such a mark on me(the excitement) that I can remember the room, the lamp that was on, turning around when he came to my door and announced to me and my brothers I can see the linoleum floor I had that rolled up at the door way- gray and blue. Thank you for spurring my mind to that memory
They had life time warranties on some products which were great for the customer but terrible for Sears. You could but a baby bottle warmer, raise five kids and bring it back six years later when you no longer had babies and get your money back (true story from a former Sears employee). People abused the warranties.
I worked for this once great company for 7 years and thought I’d never work anywhere else. But when the morning news announced the deal with Kmart and Lampert at the helm, I knew the day’s were numbered. Absolutely incredible to see how he orchestrated the extraction of over 100 years worth of wealth from two retailers and destroyed everyone and everything in his path.
Robert Nardelli did the same thing to Home Depot, then got fired by the board in 2007, got his golden parachute of $210 million, and was immediately hired by Chrysler as CEO. He promptly ran Chrysler into the ground and into bankruptcy in less than 2 years. He now runs an investment and advisory firm. Crime pays. Sociopathy pays better.
My parents would take me to Sear's shopping for school clothes. You walk in and you could small the *buttery popcorn* over by the Brach's Candy! The catalog was the best.... *The Wishbook* was a book of wishes! Thank you for this great series! 💚
My mother took us to Sears on 63rd st in Chicago. How long ago you say? We took the Halsted ST. trolley there. The first thing you smelled was the cashews, the whole store smelled of hot cashews. Although we pleaded, we rarely got them, we were not blessed with money. You know, a trip to Sears was a whole day event. We would leave early and return just in time for dinner. We didn't have much, but we always had lunch somewhere and had a really good time for very little. The stores in those days were designed for you to stay a while. Now, it's get what you came for and get out. Imagine spending 3 or 4 hours in Wal Mart?
We went to Sears all the time. My father was a firm believer in Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances...just about every large purchase was purchased from Sears. And who could forget the thrill of getting the Wishbook catalog for Christmas every year!
When I was a kid and discovered the Wishbook had arrived when I went home for lunch, I'd claim to be sick, hoping to be able to stay home and read it! My mom popped a (glass mercury) thermometer in my mouth, but I was smart enough to hold the bulb near the light bulb over my bed. If it got too hot, I'd shake it down to a believable 99 degrees. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.
I remember the Xmas Catalog came the end of Oct.....by the time Christmas was close by that book was so worn from me and my siblings looking through it .... good times in the 60's !
I was born in 1945 so I grew up in the 50's. I always remember anxiously waiting for the mail order catalogue. We shopped there all the time. My Dad's tools and lawnmower were from there. My Mom bought clothes there for us all the time. We got our refrigerator and range from there , even our vacuum. It's just what everyone did ! Christmas was always fun. Between the catalogue and going into the store it was always fun and exciting. Way before all the big box warehouse stores opened up, THIS was the place to shop ! BEST FAMILY MEMORIES ! MISS THEM.......
The Great Depression and WWII limited new clothing. The 50’s are when keeping up with the Jones started. There was the McCarthyism subtext that meant you didn’t want to stand out from the crowd or get accused of something.
Mom had a charge account @ sears before they had credit cards,our clothes& toys came from Sears,We were poor don't know how they done it!. I Remember wanting and dreaming of everything they sold!,
@@horsepower0539 As much as I liked Sears it was their own fault. Sears failed at seeing the future, they could have bought out Amazon in the early 2000's but Sears stubbornly choose to continue with the same business plan and it was their downfall... If you don't change with the future it will eventually change you. The next one to fall will be the car dealerships. Soon most people will buy their car on the internet. The days of going to a dealer are numbered .
The first thing you would smell when you walked into a Sears store was the popcorn and candy section. They had the best popcorn and the candy was great too
My Uncle Ralph, a U.S. Marine Corps World War II combat veteran, worked in the furniture department at our local Sears in Long Beach, LA County, long enough to retire. Like many other teenage boys in the 1960s, I played guitar in a garage band, The Flipside, with three friends in Lakewood after The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan on Sunday, February 9, 1964. My parents couldn’t afford Fender, Vox, Gibson, Marshall, Ampeg, etc. so for Christmas they gave me a Silvertone Twin 12 guitar amplifier, similar to a Fender Bandmaster, from Sears. Worked well. I used it with a Y cable plugged into both channels plus a TNT distortion booster and a Vox wah wah pedal until we disbanded in 1969 following graduation from high school, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... ‘Tis a magical musical memory still turning in the windmills of my mind. Thank you Sears.
My beloved grandmother worked for Sears from the early 50’s to the early 80’s in Virginia Beach, VA. I remember her getting a pension every month when I was little. I wish I had a time machine and could walk in and see her working around ‘55 when she was around my age now. ❤️
@Oats J. Mule very well might have been Norfolk. I don’t know the location. They lived in Bayside, so not far from Norfolk. I just said Virginia Beach because that’s where we refer to them living.
Many people retired from Sears with a great pension. Some retired wealthy. People had great health insurance as well. Sad those day are gone. Work for Walmart and their business plan is to have the states fund the insurance because you are so poor.
You comment came in a time today I was thinking of my Grandfather. I wished he was riding in my truck with me today so I could just talk things over with him.
My father bought everything at Sears, from my school clothes to appliances to lawn tractors to TV’s, to even the oil furnace for our house. Truly one stop shopping back in the day. And the employees were knowledgeable, attentive, and actually ( or so it seemed ) were glad to help you. And the men there, I knew many, were the only ones working in their household and they bought homes, and cars and took a vacation every summer. Something went terribly wrong in this country.
Washers, dryers and fridges. They never wore out. My aunt bought me a fridge and my mom got the washer and dryer when I got my first house in 1981. I still have them and they work like charm. Only 1 minor repair on the dryer.
Unbelievable isn’t it? Life sure has changed, I never thought I see it come to this. No stores will be left. Just hermit people ordering all their stuff on line. What a drag. Shopping was fun, even if you were only ‘looking’!
@@Melinda8162 Exactly. I hate whats happening. AND THEN!!!! Lol now this idiotic "inclusion" thing, where there won't be any gender departments, there will just be 'clothes' , 'shoes'........
@Da Big Kahuna Catfish Yes. I fear we are past the point of no return and our "new normal" is pure looney tunes. They will be locking sane people up, so when they nab you, ill meet you in the lunch room. Lol Take care Stay safe
Our parents insisted everything come from Sears. They had such beautiful stores. The warm roasted nuts and candy were really special. We lived for the new catalogs. They treated their employees well and employed lots of people. We will miss them.
I hold SEARS up as the best example of mismanagement. These modern executives that are so gifted they call for 7-figure salaries managed a company out of existence which started as a grass roots catalog company in the 19’th century and survived the Great Depression but failed in our relatively prosperous times.
I worked for Sears out of college in the mid 90s. The company was just coming back and our focus was customer service. We sold service until the accountant and lawyers decided service cost to much. So they replaced service people who knew their products to just allowing people to pick items out of bins. And the company began to collapse. They were paying me $750 a week with great benefits when I was hired. They offered me $8 an hour part time and no benefits. I didn’t even give them notice. Sears stopped believing in loyalty too.
LOL. I was in a college town. They offed us five cents above minimum wage. They had THOUSANDS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS THERE AND ALL WERE LOOKING FOR A JOB. I think it was $3.30 an hour there. But I worked with good people and had the worlds best boss. One guy had worked in a city at a big Sears store since high school and was paid $6 an hour there. When he came to college the assistant manager cut him back to $3.30 an hour. He told him if he worked out he'd bump him back up. After a couple of months there he asked the assistant manger if he could bump him back up. He did. Mind you, his starting pay at the other store in his home town was $4 an hour. Yup. Sears changed. As has retail as well.
I really liked Sears. My first credit card was from them. You remember the old credit card “machines”...you put the card in the holder and slid the roller over it so it made an impression on the carbon copy form. I used to feel sorry for the sales girls- that thing never really seemed to work so well, and some of them really had trouble getting the roller to move.
My mom and dad ordered everything from Sears. My wife worked at Sears for years and I would buy loads of tools and clothes there. It's like living on another planet now.
My Family loved shopping at Sears. Then I went and worked there for 2 years 1975 to 1978 part time. I had my first credit card there. Bought my first luggage set there. My Mom would even buy material for sewing. Sears was the best.!!
The Sears Christmas catalogue was a highlight each year. I'd go through the toy section circling all the things I wanted and occasionally I got some of them.
I remember leaving the shopping mall with myself, and brothers each holding 1 catalog from each dept store. We would spend the Christmas season if not throwing snowballs, peruse through them for hours at a time talking about the different toys in the different catalogs.
I remember an old "Dennis The Menace" comic strip when Dennis told Mr. Wilson that his mother told him that when he dies, he's going to heaven. And Mr. Wilson quoted that when he dies, he's going back to the good old days.
@@brodriguez11000 yeah that's the North Hollywood Sears store at valley plaza, which is no longer there. We bought our refrigerator there...... Now it's gone....
my grandmother worked at the sears on homan avenue in chicago for 40 years, i have her bracelet with her service pins, every year she sent us the christmas wish book, it was magical...
Sears at the Crossroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska 76th and Dodge. The mainstay of shopping forever. You could shop there and all the stores in the mall, and come out hours later knowing you had a good time. Now if I'm in a store longer than 30 seconds I want to leave. Every store has the same items, poor management, and ridiculous prices.
~ The original store downtown in the "Towers" did not have air conditioning........ Brandis was at the other end of the Crossroads Mall @ 72nd & Dodge. "The Nebraska" was an exclusive mens store in the mall, I still have a hat my dad & I bought there.
So true Chris! Back in the day if a clerk asked if they could help you they were sincere and they knew how to help you. If they couldn't find the article you were looking for they would try to source it. They seemed to be really interested in helping you and making a sale. Today most people don't speak English and are just there for the pay cheque. It's too bad but that's the way the world turns today!
@@donalddonuts6026 I went into Penny's to buy a pair of jeans for my husband. The jeans section was a jumbled mess, and there wasn't a clerk in sight. Without being able to ask anyone whether they even CARRIED his size (before wasting an hour going through literally piles of jeans), I turned on my heel and walked out. I went to Dillards, where a clerk actually helped me (and found what I needed in the back). Yes, I paid more. But I walked out of the store with my jeans without waiting a week or paying for shipping. Sometimes you want what you want NOW.
My Mom worked sales for Sears in the plumbing and heating department for many years. (At Montgomery Wards before that.) She was the first woman manager in the 80's of that department. I remember the mall like absorption of these stores and ultimate dissolution of them. These retrospectives are bittersweet.
I would spend hours going through the Christmas catalog, meticulous about writing down my wish list, prices and all. My grandma saved one and mailed me my list I wrote as a child after I married, said I was quite the "Budgeteer". Ha! I'm an accountant, guess it was in my blood.
LOL did the exact same thing. My brother and I were allowed a $10 {about $60-$70 now} budget to chose what we liked. My brother gave it little thought while I agonized over my choices !!
@@karin0963 I honestly don’t know why people have to be rude. I enjoyed your memory, I’m sure your grandparents wanted you to learn the value of money. It looks like it may have worked, since you’re an accountant. Best wishes.
It truly is sad to bear witness to the end of those times, the end of Sears...and the end of how everything was back in those years. My grandparents generation, my parents, but my generation will sadly be the last ones to remember what Sears once was. There will never be another Sears...just as there will never be those times again. 😪
Not that you asked....but I'm a "Sears baby." My parents both worked for Sears when they met, and then married and then I was born. They went on to invest in their own Sears Catalog Store franchise. The store consisted of a counter with stools, where shoppers looked through the catalogs and then placed their orders. We love all things "Sears!"
We had a really nice Sears at the mall near us until it closed 3 years ago. They had good quality clothes and merchandise. Miss that store and their catalogs.
I miss going to the mall and going to Sears. I remember the popcorn smell welcoming me to the store. I bought my bed, refrigerator, and tires at Sears. Craftsman forever
Target was even worse. They decided to open up stores in Canada for the first time several years ago but never thought to get any product to put in the stores. You don't get a lot of customers in a store with empty shelves and sky-high prices. Whoever did that planning needs to be in an entirely different line of work.
Exactly 💯 Sears was broken from the inside run by the incompotent bureaucrats in Chicago and when Kmart bought out Sears then made it two broken corporations dying together and excellerated both their demise...when they started selling off assets like the Searscard to Citigroup I knew the timeclock started
Remember Walking Into Any Sears Store And As Soon As The Door Would Swing Shut , A Gust Of Air Hit You . It Was Air Conditioned And Smelled Like Polyester , Pop Corn , And Roasted Nuts . Almost Intoxicating , But A Smell That Would Take You Back In Time .
@@patsygroves3812 Chocolate Peanut Clusters We’re My Personal Favorite. I Couldn’t Afford It Until High School. Popcorn And A Strawberry Icee Was Always The Best !
How I wish we could go back to that time where men and women dressed nicely and wore hats. I remember going to Sears with my grandparents, especially shopping at Christmas time. It was a real treat my sister and I looked forward to.
Growing up in the era of the shopping mall, everywhere we lived had at least one mall, and at least 2 of the big 3 department stores to anchor them: Sears, Penney's, and Wards. I worked at Sears part-time in the Men's department from the summer after my junior year in high school until I graduated from college. My dad worked part-time at Sears in another location even longer than I did; he sold appliances. All of our home appliances (our fist big color TV, our first microwave oven, our refrigerator, our dishwasher) all came from Sears because of my dad's discount and looking out for sales. I went from general men's ware to men's suits, in which I got a 3% commission on everything I rang up. Great store. Sorry to see the last CEO drive it into the ground.
My parents bought a Sears microwave/convection oven in the fall of 1985 when I was in the Army. They passed away many years ago. But I got the SEARS MICROWAVE / CONVECTON OVEN AND IT STILL WORKS IN 2022! Only had to do one thing. Replace the "board" on the inside of the oven. Was able to find a board to fit it on Amazon. And still have my fathers Craftsmen tools as well.
I used to enjoy dropping my car off at the Sears Automotive service station and they go into the main store to shop around. Those were the days. We must bring them back.
People condemn shopping on-line as causing the decline of the malls and retail in general, but Sears was doing the equivalent 100 years ago. In the 50's my family bought from Sears extensively, but we never went to a Sears store. There weren't any nearby.
My parents met at Sears in the 50’s. Dad delivered and installed appliances and Mom was the dispatcher. Standing joke was my brother’s and I were all ordered from the Sears catalogue!
It's hard to imagine Sears gone . I think the biggest mistake was doing away with commission salespeople . When you went to Sears they had people there that actually knew what they were selling . It was a great experience . And of course he would buy them because they stood behind their products . Which mostly were made here in the United States . And if you had a problem they would stand behind it . I can see no reason for them to go out . Other than just bad management. It's a damn shame to lose this quality store . They sell everything from motorcycles cars to homes . Now we have Walmart . The Chinese outlet . Where nobody speaks English .
"China Pride" Wal-Mart hurt Sears Badly! I remember 10 years ago, I bought all black Kenmore appliances, fridge, range, range hood, microwave and still have them till this present day. Try doing that at Wal-Mart, you'll be lucky to leave with a mini fridge and a mni microwave with a 2-year lifespan.
@@semectual You are absolutely right . Try returning something to China . I bought a pair of snow boots from Amazon . It took one month to get them . When I finally got them the wrong size . To return them it would cost me $280 . That was enough for me . I will always buy American . If I'm right Kenmore still sold in this country . I believe it's Lowe's hardware that still carries it .
They spent a fortune on the "financial superstore" idea in the 1980's. They bought Dean Witter and Coldwell Banker thinking the "synergies" would make it work. It was a big failure and saddled the company with debt and acquisition good will on its books. That's what killed the company. There was no money left to compete in the retail business.
My mother was disgusted when she bought new Sears appliances because at age 70, she had bought from Sears all her life, and when she called customer service the rep barely spoke English and she had a hard time getting service on her appliance. She said it used to be so different.
Well all the appliances were no longer made here..lets guess where they are all from ? My mom did the same and her refrigerator did nothing but break down
I grew up in Ontario in the early 60's and loved going to Sears. Christmas was the absolute best. Photo with Santa, personalized Christmas stocking which I still own and that awesome Christmas catalogue. It was breathtaking for a child flipping through the toy section in the hopes Santa would fulfill your dreams Christmas morning.
My maternal grandfather lived in a small Sears house for decades in Dallas. It’s been gone for several years now but it was used to raise nine kids, and I have special memories of time spent there as a kid.
After Montgomery Wards, this was one of my favorite stores to shop. Such a sad situation how the went under year after year. I'm especially sad to know that the very last Sears in Illinois is in the process of closing.
Gone are the days when shopping at the mall was so much fun! Sears used to decorate so beautifully for Christmas and offer so many specials throughout the stores. There appliances were and still are very reliable and of high quality, many people had them for a lifetime. The architecture e of the buildings were beautiful and always undergoing some sort of renovation. I just wish we could bring those days back, you could even get a "quality" meal in one of their restaurants.
I grew up on the east end of Houston, just north of the ship channel. Mom used to take me through the Washburn Tunnel, to Sears in Pasadena, TX. It was a wonderful store, with a great toy department, a cafe, and a nut stand in the center that gave off the most wonderful aroma. She would always buy me a portion of warm cashews from that stand. One of my best childhood memories from the mid-late 60s. On rare occasion, it was a REAL treat for this young boy to actually eat in that cafe.
"China Pride" Wal-Mart hurt Sears Badly! I remember 10 years ago, I bought all black Kenmore appliances, fridge, range, range hood, microwave and still have them till this present day. Try doing that at Wal-Mart, you'll be lucky to leave with a mini fridge and a mni microwave with a 2-year lifespan.
Walmart they are out to put everybody out of business right from the start and they're still trying to do that they ain't no good I don't shop there I never will Walmart sucks there are to go to hell
@@boboren8246 Walmart doesn't care about customer loyalty and so far, they don't have to. That's why they keep only two lines open during rush hour. People will whine and complain but they'll still wait and buy a cartful of crap. Imagine if everyone who had to wait more than five minutes to check out would simply abandon their carts and leave. You'd see those other lines open up immediately.
So true. I purchased a fridge at Sears in 2012 and it still works like new. Gave it away to my ex. Sort of regretting it now haha. As for walfart… Fact: Walmart in Mexico was paying their full time employees 700 pesos per week. Equivalent to $35. That’s what… 88 cents per mile…wait…getting back to the future and walfart mixed up. 88 cents per hour, boys and girls. I wrote a comment at walfart’s instagram about their low wages in Mexico. Within a month thereafter, walfart doubled their employees wages. Wow walfart, way to go!! A whopping $1.76 per hour. And yes, they often have two lanes open, too. Shopped there one time in 2021, but I was forced to.
Sears could have been a bigger powerhouse than they were. They not only had the retail division, but also Discover card AND Prodigy online, years before the internet, as we know it, was a thing! Management was catastrophically inept.
Ahhh, Sears at Del Amo, remember eating hot cashews, buttered popcorn with my mom, toughskins, bought my first Beatles LP when I was 10 with money I saved washing my dad's car and even rented a tuxedo at one time.
I remember the catalogs I still miss them I let my kids pick out their christmas presents in them I remember going downtown christmas eve store was closing as lights were being shut off my Dad forgot a present and they let him in and he got what he needed such good people
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
Thank you for this wonderful video on Sears! It brought back memories of a favorite uncle of mine that "worshipped"Sears and used to take me there often in his '52 Chev. He bought me my first bicycle, a J.C. Higgins from Sears!
We did keep our doors unlocked. We went out and played till dark. Our parents had no way to keep track. We came in at dark. One tv in the house and Dad had it in the evenings
This is true. Even cars were left unlocked, even if they did have locks. The cloud of pervasive crime that now shadows communities and people today, was not as enveloping during that time. Crime, of course did occur, but it just wasn't as prevalent, especially in smaller towns or in the suburbs.
I remember the store from the 70s. I loved looking through that big curtain rod display filled with their curtain linens. I was only about 7 or 8, but the salesladies would let me. And I would always get one of their huge catalogues at each visit with my family.
Sears was a very good place to shop and all the items looked great ..looked forward as I remember going down a flight of stairs to see appliances and such..Sears always had a line of traffic in the store.
I remember me, my 3 sisters and one brother getting one new outfit each on the revolving charge card. It was a real big deal to us as it would take my mother a long time to pay it off. It was nice to have something new for the first day of school.
That's when life was much better than today I remember going to Sears stores and buying my clothes and tools you could find everything you wanted and the people who were working there were very nice to help you out I wish I could go back in time live was much better 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Their decline started in the 1970's, like the video says. It was in bad shape when Lampert got involved, but he raped it with debt and took out the valuable real estate for himself.
@@hewitc He was/is a selfish bastard, same blood as many like Mitt Romney that see a failing company and use it to abuse bankruptcy laws by boring money on it's behave, all knowing that no business plan is designed to save the company. It is ALL about getting paid before the ship sinks. Borrow money to pay the executive staff (signed deals they are the first to be paid in the event of the business failing) then OH they find the company is in deeper trouble than they knew. They get bonus checks and the business well sorry for the loss of jobs. It isn't personal it is just business!
Pants and jeans are ok. It's tube/tank tops, short shorts, sleep pants, sweats, braless, slippers, flip flops and muffin tops I can't stand. I wear a collared shirt every time I leave the house. I could go on.
05:20 I worked at that Sears! From around 1984 until 1989! Dayton Ohio. The building is now gone and some sort of office building and apartments have been put up in its place.
Great times with the catalogue, would make my own Barbie houses from a big box would cut out all the necessities of living and it made a beautiful house for my dolls. Thank you. Wonderful scrap book video. Miss my Parents more than ever now.
My father started in the Shoe department manager at Sears in 1966 in Mason City, Iowa. He stayed working for Sears in various different departments until he passed away in 1984 at the age of 51. I can remember walking in and going to the popcorn counter and getting some popcorn and the folks there always give us kids a little extra popcorn. We could never run amuck there as kids as having our father pop out of anywhere in the store.
