As Sears Sets to Close, Here Are the Iconic Images We Remember – IOTW Report

As Sears Sets to Close, Here Are the Iconic Images We Remember

Sunday, 26 March 2017, 11:00 MJA Uncategorized 52

Confess!!! Which of you had these?

All of the above were available in the 1970’s Sears Catalogs.

LifeZette: Uniquely American department store leaves us with memories, and a tinge of sadness.

In a filing made public earlier this week, the parent company of Sears — and its more modern offshoot Kmart — said that it faced “substantial doubt” over whether the brand would continue to be viable.

This past year has been a bad stint for Sears, as it is expected to close almost 50 of its U.S. department stores, along with over 100 Kmart locations. This comes on the heels of the sale of the Craftsman brand to Black & Decker and the separation of the Land’s End label from the parent company in 2014.

In the same filing, company executives cited the need for greater liquidity — but no matter how much the brand sells off, doubts remain about its future. After over a century of storied retailing, the doors may finally be shutting on Sears.

This will be sad news for the generations of people who grew up with the Sears sign lighting Main Street and the infamous Sears Wish Book ushering in every holiday season. However, the news also marks the perfect time to look back at some of the iconic images of one of America’s signature department stores.  more here

 

52 Comments on As Sears Sets to Close, Here Are the Iconic Images We Remember

  1. I use to love the Christmas Wish books. Sears was always the best.

    Those 70s duds are “Far Out” or was it “Up Tight and Outta Sight” or should I say “Awesome?” I’m not entirely sure of my old timey jargon anymore.

  2. Omg. I had a mini dress the same fabric as those plaid pants. The world has s thankful it is no longer in my wardrobe. My sons still complain about the Sears Tough Skins pants I used to make them wear. They had knee patches made from some kind of indestructible (and uncomfortable) space age fabric. The kids knee joints would wear out before the pants knee patches.

  6. Catalogues, what’s a catalog? Catalogs have gone the way of outhouses, neither of which exist hardly anymore. The only outhouse left are at some rest areas and catalogs are all digital and on the internet now. Hopefully Sears will still be around in some form but they need to ditch K Mart and fast. K marts are still more low life central and welfare friendly than even Wally World. I can’t even remember when I last willingly went to a K Mart, it’s gotta be 20 or more years ago.

  8. If they ever bring back polyester leisure suits there’s gonna be hell to pay. My father in law wore a polyester leisure suit to my wedding to his daughter in 1977. And Jimmy Carter publicly scolded our Mayor Ron Bair at the time in 1980 when he came to visit Spokane after Mt. St. Helens blew up because the Mayor was wearing a very tacky leisure suit to greet the President.

  9. Sears was the original “on-line” retailer (phone-line, that is). With better management, they could have transitioned and become Amazon. All brick-and-mortar retailers are in the process of going through this (J.C.Penny for one), and Walmart is working hard to get a piece of Amazon’s action. Anyone been to a mall lately?

  10. Years ago I had a small but useful kit of hand tools that I frequently used. I bought the majority of them off the Snap-On truck, I spent a bit extra because I thought I’d have them for life. Then someone stole them.

    As a replacement, I started buying Craftsman Professional series tools because of the lifetime warranty and rebuilt my tool kit. Today I have just about every hand tool I could ever want besides some one off thing. For these things I go to Harbor Fright, because why spend $10 at Sears just to cut a big slot in a socket or similar?

    So now I have a whole set of tools that when broken will have to be replaced with shitty Black & Crapper tools?

    Awe Hell Naw to the naw, naw, naw! I should have just rebuilt my tool set with Snap-On!

  14. Those bell bottom jeans were designed to float if you tied off the ends and slapped them on the water (theoretically anyway) so they made sense but those pimp clothes and disco wear never made sense.

    I always wore my flannels under my double breasted green suit (occasionally really dressed with my yellow turtle neck).

  16. I knew Sears was dying forty years ago when a senior marketing executive was quoted saying, “We are not in the business of selling merchandise we are in the business of selling stock.”
    Who but a Harvard MBA could be that stupid?

  17. This makes me vey sad, but my last visit to sears was to buy a clothes dryer. The previous visit was to buy a refrigerator. Both times the Black sales people were really helpful. They knew their product, unlike the fly by night, fast talking salespeeps in the big appliance stores. Wonder what happens to their warranties.

    The appliance section was well lit, but the clothing sections were dull, dingy, and unappealing. It was sad to see that. Hope they keep selling appliances.

    Back in the ’60 – 80s nearly the only place, after Monkey Wards closed, Sears was the only place I could find socks and shoes for my size 16 stoic Kraut Giant.

  18. Got my 1st leather “motorcycle” jacket from Sears circa 1972, it lasted 20 years before the zippers gave out. Bought 2 pair of engineer boots from them over the same period. Good quality, American made products. Hey Sears,I quit you when everything you sold was chinese crap, I can get the same inferior quality at the flea market, dumbasses.

  20. In the late 19C, they invented the entire concept of a mail order catalog: honest descriptions and illustrations, you mailed your order and they shipped it to you, anywhere in North America. Phenomenal.
    Craftsman tools were the best, with no-questions-asked replacements in the spot.
    Sears hosted the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts uniform lines, and the Sears near me sponsored 2 troops out of store funds.
    Portrait studio, apparel, you went to Sears.
    Their outdoor section was phenomenal.
    I was in a Sears recently for the first time in years. Everything made in China, and available cheaper at WalMart. A ghost store with no customers.

    Decades of terrible management was all it took to run 100 years of success into the ground.

    K Mart is a different problem. An aggressive Affirmative Action hiring campaign in the 90s morphed the brand into a predominantly black staff and clientele. The Waffle House business model.

    Nice sales folk of Sears through the years, thanks for the service and the memories.

  21. Failure: The CEO Eddie Lampert, hedge fund manager wannabe retail guru to turn Sears into a dot.com retailer while not knowing who his customers are. I worked there, so I know. Sears and Kmart have two completely different customer bases. When it takes 8 minutes to sell a screw driver on a iPad vs. 20 seconds on the cash register, you have a problem. Most of the time employees are selling Shop your way membership data.

  23. My wife and I bought a White-Westinghouse electric range from Montgomery Wards in 1984, it lasted us 30 years till it finally died 2 years ago. I bought a new range, a rather nice Kenmore stove from Sears 2 years ago to replace the old range, let’s hope it lasts as long.

  24. From the 1890s to at least the 1920s, Sears sold entire houses, delivered anywhere the railroads served.
    Assembly pans and instructions in plain English so any reasonably competent carpenter could assemble the house. Nails, plumbing, appliances included.
    Amazing story. Dedicated websites and preservation societies. I’ve been inside several Sears houses, well designed and well built.
    That was a Great America.

  26. When I was probably 13 or 14 I took my birthday money and some I had saved up down to my local Woolworth’s in the early 70s and bought a 22 caliber rifle and ammo. Wasn’t any big deal back then.

  28. If you’ve been in a Sears, lately (the past 10 or 15 years) you understand why they’re closing up. The people employees don’t know what’s in stock, where to get it, or GAF whether you find it or not. The “Parts Dept.” tells you how to order the stuff you need off the Interwebz. They all stare at you as if you were a space alien when you walk through the door.

    Sort of a metaphor for America …

    izlamo delenda est …

  30. I remember riding my bicycle, at age 10, with my sears 22 rifle, slung over my shoulder, to the target range. Nobody said anything. The good old days.
    My friend has a large sailboat he disappears on, and he has commented on his ‘Sears and Rowback’ outboard motor.

  32. Around here the Mexican workers of various types are the only people I see still shopping at Sears. I think they like the plaid shirts and pants. Maybe.
    Personally, I have never bought anything but a microwave there. Very depressing store. Hell, Target is way more fun.

  33. At this point it’s no loss. Last time I went into the local Sear’s store (closed last week) I needed a battery pack for the cordless drill and could not, REPEAT, could not get waited on. The only clerk in the hardware area was so intent on selling something to another customer (be it a screw driver or a lawn tractor) that he totally ignored me for over fifteen minutes as I tried in vain to find the battery packs. Hope he got that major sale as It convinced me not to bother going back there again for anything. Don’t even acknowledge the other waiting customers and try to get them help or call another clerk…

    Remember when they merged with K-Mart. Great move, “Let’s strap two sinking ships together and see how that works.” And the latest move of selling their last remaining viable brand (Craftsman) was the final piece in the puzzle of destroying what was once a great brand. As all the remaining real estate is going to be such an easy sale because all the malls are doing so well, I’m sure they’ll come back strong.

    Years ago watched Wards destroy themselves and then many others adopted their failing business models like lemmings to the sea.

  34. I met my husband at Sears! I transferred stores to sell Home Entertainment on commission (making $18 hourly average working the ‘gravy hours’ part-time… boy, those were the days!) and he was working store security. Before he even knew my name, he told everyone he was going to marry me! For the first week or so, I thought he was just a really indecisive shopper… hanging out in my department, asking me stupid questions about VHS camcorders and rear-projection big screens! Then one evening, a shoplifter grabbed an armload of men’s suits and ran for the door near my department. I got to see him in action as he tackled the thief right outside the store. He went from Stupidcutestalkerguy to Superman in the blink of an eye! I turned to my coworker and said “I’m going to marry him!”. After I clocked out than night, I found him and asked if he’d walk me to my car (ya know… because I was still a little shaken;)… he let me hold his hand… I let him kiss me! The rest is history ❤️ and it all began at Sears!

  35. @Ken H ~ brought a $25 Chinese SKS, packed in about 30 lbs. of cosmoline, from Woolworth’s back in the ’70’s … like you said, no big deal … pulled it out of the rack, walked up to the counter, paid & walked out & threw it in the back seat of the car.

    first rifle I ever brought myself was a K98 Mauser from Monkey Wards … $30 … I was 16

  36. I worked for Sears for two Christmas seasons while in my late tens. Great place, with friendly staff and fair managers. It was a great time, busy and the spirit of Christmas was always in the air. In addition each Christmas they would host a luncheon in the warehouse. An excellent lunch was served to the staff (two servings so the store was manned) and the store manager would give a short speech thanking everyone for their fine work and wishing them a Merry Christmas. Also got the Sears Staff Discount which came in handy buying presents. Every Sears was the store that always seemed to have the best Christmas Spirit.

    The other thing I remember over the years is the restaurant that every Sears had for customers and staff. It was a clean, cafeteria setup with outstanding food, far better then what you’d expect. Apart from a standard menu with all the favourites each day would have a special. I think it was Roast Beef Fridays (could have been Thursday) that have a large medium rare Roast Beef and they’d carve the type you liked best along with either fresh mashed or roast potatoes, sweet green peas, Yorkshire pudding, horseradish and a huge fluffy roll with butter. The price was 4.99 although it rose over the years. For years that little cafeteria was packed on Roast Beef days as well as Fish and Chip days, well just about most times. Sad to say that as business dropped off starting around 1985 they stopped the special days in the restaurants and soon they started just doing wrapped sandwiches and salads. Then they closed them altogether. Too damn bad and my condolences go out to the 140K people who are facing unemployment.

  39. OMG I had actually had that blue outfit in pic number two. I was the very height of cool back then. Of course I was in college at the time. But I remember the girls loved that outfit. I had to beat them with a stick…to get them to stop laughing at it.

  40. I had the wide leg plaid pants only in a more pastel shade of pink yellow and teal. “Elephant Flared” if I remember correctly.
    I remember sitting at my Grandparents dining room table looking at the Wish Book. Good memories.

  43. I’m a Hillbilly (which is odd because where I lived in Illinois had no

    hills) But when My Dad had us on His Weekend , We’d go to Sears and ride

    The Escalator(Magic)…and they had wonderful Hotdogs and Hot

    Pretzels. (1972?)

  44. I used to buy WW2 Army surplus .30 cal. carbine ammo from the Sears catalog. Dirt cheap, too.

    IMHO, Sears began to decline when they closed the catalog department. Just one of many not-so-smart management decisions.

  45. First thing the ex and I did when we got married (1973)was get a Sears card (well, maybe the second thing). We bought washer and dryer, microwave, TV and a chainsaw. Funny thing is, the microwave, TV and chainsaw sold today are still the same price as back then, and better quality, while the washer and dryer are 3x the price and likely won’t last as long.

  47. Just bought a washer & dryer from them last week. Got a bunch of Kenmore appliances, too over the years.
    But, my first Sears purchase was a 5hp mini-bike from the catalog in the 1970s.
    Sorry to hear about Craftsman. I’ve had a Craftsman miter saw for almost 20 years that works great. On the other hand, every single tool I’ve bought from Black & Decker broke very quickly. A shame because I love their Mouse sander but I’ve had a dozen because they break after a year or so.

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