Sears

[joe44va]

Seems to be on a downward spiral. The Diehard, Kenmore, and Craftsman brands are for sale. When they go, so will Sears.
Got my first 22 from Sears. When most friends had a paper route, I ran a trap line. Got my traps at sears. Sold my pelts to sears. Almost all my tools are Craftsman. Split one of their sockets once by putting a 3' pipe on a breaker bar. Slammed my hand into the lift and it swelled up and hurt. Went to the hospital and got an X-ray, paid cash for it (yeah, I'm old). Took the socket back to sears and they gave me a new one. The employee asked what happened to my hand. After telling him about the lift and the hospital, he reimbursed me for the hospital bill. Remember the catalogue? It was at one time a great American institution. Any good Sears stories?

 

[Salty RI]

I had a trap line as a kid also, my father would drive me to Sears to sell my pelts. In areas where Sears didn't have a store they had catalog stores, you would look through the catalog and order something and go back later and pick it up.

 

[oldman10mm]

I'm a Sears fan too,but the quality is gone from Diehard,Kenmore,Craftsman. If the quality still existed then it would be a shame if Sears ended. As the quality doesn't exist anymore,when Sears ends I won't miss it.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Not a great Sears story, but a friend once took me to his brothers house in D.C., I think it was a Dutch Colonial, and when I complimented him on it's beauty, said it's a Sears Catalog house.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I'm only 61 so I remember Sears in the Mall in the 60's & 70's. Back to school clothes, were reasonable but mom insisted our shoes come from other stores. My uncles and brother have bad feet so the need was for better shoes.

I remember the camping department. The Sears house brand was called Hilleary after Sir Edmond Hilleary. (but I don't think he ever slept in a Sears tent!) They had all manor of backpacking food! Before a movie in the mall, my friends and I would go to Sears and get a bag of nuts, maybe a little candy and always a package of freeze dried Ice Cream, for during the show.

Years later I cutting through the women's department, and mounted up high on the wall was a Mu-mu. A leopard print Mu-mu! They only had them in 4x and were only $6, so I bought one for the wife as a gag gift. Kind of backfired, she loved and still loves it! Made me go back and buy 2 more, one for her sister and one for her mom. They are all thin or at least close to thin) Her sister's became bulk fabric that she made stuffed animals out of, so all the next two generations of the family have satin leopard teddy bears!

Ivan

 

[CajunBass]

For a long time I didn't know there was any other place to buy guns than Sears. My first gun ever, an Ithaca M-66, SuperSingle 20 ga came from Sears about a month before Christmas. I remember sneaking into my parents room and finding it under the bed. I'd pull it out, and just stare at it. I didn't dare take it out.

Then about a year or so later, my mother ordered the first gun I ever paid for myself from Sears. It was a Stevens 311, 12 ga, with 30" mod/full barrels, rebadged as "Sears-Roebuck and Co." This of course was before the GCA-68, when you could still call Sears on the phone, and a Sears truck would come around in a few days and drop off the gun. I paid for the gun ($79.95 IIRC) out of my wages for working on a local farm for $5.00 a day. I got the gun, a couple boxes of shells, and a brown canvas hunting coat in that order. I couldn't wait to get home from the farm the day it was supposed to arrive. When I finally got home, it was there on the sofa waiting for me.

I've only got two shotguns today. Both of them came from Sears. One I bought, the other my father did. Both 12 ga pumps.

I bought a number of other guns from them, including a Remington 1100 (or two), an AYA 20 ga double, and a Winchester Model 70 in 30/06 with a "Ted Williams" 3x9 scope. I debated rather I wanted the Winchester or the "Ted Williams" gun with was a Model 70 action in a cheaper birch stock, but eventually sprung for the "name brand" to get the Walnut stock and the hinged magazine base.

I bought a Sears brand 35 MM camera kit with a bag, and a couple of lenses from them too. I still have that around here somewhere. Haven't used it for years. I bought appliances, clothes, tools, TV's, furniture, and I don't know what else from Sears back then. The first credit card I ever got was a "Sears" card. Man, I thought I was a big shot.

I also haven't been in a Sears store in years. Probably since they stopped selling guns. When/if they go, it will be along the lines of hearing that a favorite actor you haven't heard from in years has died. "Well, that's a shame, but I didn't know he was still alive."

 

[The Big D]

Worked there...still a fan...

...but they are having big time problems.

Started at a rather small store in my hometown. Great place to work...great bosses. When I went to the University of Maryland, I was allowed to TRANSFER even though I was a part timer. Kept time and hourly pay rate.

Worked at the White Oak store in Silver Spring, MD. It was one of the largest and best in the entire chain. At the time, Sears was bigger than Montgomery Ward, KMart, and JC Penney, and Walmart COMBINED. That is not an exaggeration. But they lost their focus along the way.

Too busy for more right now but will follow up with some stories tomorrow. Think '0-277' until then...

Be safe.

 

[snake803]

Sears has sold the craftsman tool name to black & decker / stanley...
JIM...................

 

[dougb1946]

Bought a riding mower from Sears a few years ago. Good mower. Comfortable, easy to drive, wide deck. Motor blew up. Entec 19hp known for this. decided to by the same mower, and use up the first one for parts. I was sitting on the mower in the show room, hands on the wheel but not making motor noises, and the clerk said they didn't have one in stock. So I left. Went to Home Depot with my credit card and loaded up a nice Poulan. Mowed the yard, but it had a squeal when sitting still. Took it back to HD. No questions. All they had left was the floor model and they dismounted the bagger for me and loaded it on my truck. So apparently Sears closing is my fault.
To much management, too many rigid procedures, not able to make the leap into the modern world of retail. Once. they were Amazon.

 

[bearman49709]

Growing up almost everything came from sears.
When I returned from overseas I went to sears and applied for their credit card but was turned down because I had no credit, strange I had just bought a new car the month before with all of 26 miles on it.
Needless to say I haven't shopped there in over 35 years and doubt I ever will.

 

[deadin]

Sears is the only place around here that carries a decent selection of appliances. (HD has a pretty good selection but I'm tired of finding someone to wait on me in their store. That and someone that's competent when I finally do find a clerk....) The other appliance stores seem to carry stuff I've never heard of. (Crosley, etc.) or are these "Rent to Own" stores that have real junk....

I will m iss Sears when they are gone.

 

[LittleCooner]

There legacy will live on after they are gone. They sold Allstate back in 1993. Boy was that a mistake for the Sears company. Wikipedia says they are the second largest insurance company in America.

My "Sears" story: It was 51 years ago that I turned 16 and like all boys, off to obtain a "drivers licenses". Whomever dad had insurance with at the time (Old gentleman in small office in our small town) said they would not provide insurance with me driving at age 16. Off we go to the local Sears store, which was quite large back then for a small town and the young guy in the small booth in the middle of the Sears store sold Sears insurance "Allstate". He has retired and his son runs the agency now and I have had car insurance will him or his son now for 51 years.

Will be sad to Sears go, but they have lost their market. Anyone remember getting the Sears Christmas catalog in the 50's? I would wear that one out, looking for what Santa needed to bring on Christmas morning. Good by old friend. Technology has passed you by.

 

[tomf52]

I will miss Sears also but I am not surprised. Anytime my wife and I went in there you had to hunt for sales help. They just didn't care and in time neither did the consumers, thus the downfall.

 

[walkin jack]

Sears lost me when I bought one of their lawn mowers. It was the biggest baddest walk-behind model in the store. 5-hp rear bagger with front wheel drive.

It was great...for about a year. Then the self propelled system began slipping and finally would not go at all. I dug into it and was dismayed to discover that the drive shaft had steel splines on the ends that meshed with the inside of the wheels which were lined with very soft plastic gears. So it didn't take long for the steel splines to chew up the plastic gears in the wheels.

I took it to a Sears service center and discovered I was 3 weeks out of warranty. To make things worse the wheels and gears were solid one piece units. Not possible to replace just the plastic part. The wheel and tire itself was still like new but it was all one piece so it all had to be replace.

The guy at the service center laughed at me. He pointed out how slick Sears was and how it was my tough luck. I said that I was not happy that I was going to have to go through this every year. He actual words were,"That's the way the pickle squirts, dude!".

I told him that yeah he had me this time but it would be the last time. I went home and sold the mower and haven't spent another penny in Sears and never will.

Live and learn............

 

[Watchdog]

The old Sears store was within walking distance of my neighborhood back in the fifties, and my friends and I were frequent visitors.

Sears had the best toy department of all the stores, with permanent setups of Lionel and American Flyer trains, lots of BB guns and racks of cap pistols (gasp!). The sales clerks would let the kids play with the trains just about all we wanted, because they knew we'd go home and drag our parents back to the toy department!

They had a "gun department", too...down in the basement, where I remember seeing 1911s laid out on the shelves for display and purchase. Of course, I didn't know what a 1911 was...but knew I liked them.

And in the candy department, we could get a quarter-pound of Spanish peanuts for a dime...they came in a red-and-white striped little paper bag.

Those visits to Sears as a kid...funny thing, two or three eight- and nine-year-old kids walking 1.5-miles through bad areas of town unaccompanied by an adult...no one thought a thing about it back then. Sure don't see that now, do we?

1955 was a long time ago, wasn't it?

 

[mauser9]

Bought a Model 200 shotgun {Winchester 1200} back in 72 with the Ted Williams logo on barrel. Cost was $110 I believe. Recall a bolt action .22 hanging up priced at $19.95 by Stevens or Savage. Long time ago. Sears ain't fun anymore.

 

[dave holl]

Watchdog,
Your post EXACTLY parallels my experience. We lived off of W157 and Lorain Ave in Cleveland, and the Sears store was around W130 or so. Dad drove me there, and while he was getting what he wanted, I browsed the guns, fishing and tools. Oh how I wanted one of their motor scooters!
We would get a quarter pound of cashews or peanuts in one of those striped bags, and some chocolate non-pareils for Mom.......................1955.
Dave

 

[sheepdawg]

My ears always perked up when my dad said he was going to Sears. Guns, tools, toys, new color TVs it was like a trip to the fun park. There was a fountain in front of the store with giant goldfish in it, that was even cool. My first 22 was a Sears Ted Williams (High Standard) with a beautiful walnut stock. My bike was a Sears.

I remember my mother talking about Sears going downhill in the 70s. She had bought my dad some shirts and they were like 2 sizes too small. They filled in the fountain, they quit selling guns.

They tore that particular store down last December to build a new shopping center.

 

[Jessie]

My Dad was born in a two story Sears house that was brought by barge down the Ohio river, then the Kanahwa river in W. Va.
For a long while it was the biggest house in town.
He fell out of the second story window as a young-un and slowed his fall by routing his fall to the porch roof then into the bushes, all by chance and not by design.
I know I saw the house when I was very young but don't remember it nor can I find it now. I tried recently. The next time I pass through the town on a week day, I'll stop at city hall and see if I can't locate some records.
The town population isn't more than 500, so it shouldn't take long.
I do have a picture of him and his Dad shooting a pump Remington .22 in the front yard in the 1930's.

 

[vytoland]

Sears, Roebuck & Company = at one time the largest retailer....sold everything from house kits you put together to tombstones.......my brother and i would look at the toys in the catalog and "wish" for our favorites.....sears has be going down hill for several years and the end is near after being started in 1886......another american industry into the history books.....