Sears Roebuck

[Brock]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZnS5bgMPhq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

[Rye Miles #13621]

I sure miss Sears! I worked at one for awhile when I was 18 in the hardware dept.

 

Over the years I bought a lot of stuff from Sears! 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

My mother's father and his brother built two Sears Roebuck "kit homes" complete with molds for decorative concrete "stone" siding and side walks.

 

One (Grandpa Cardon's) is still standing in Logan, Utah, (and still in the family for about six or seven...or more generations) though over the years it has been expanded, modernized, electrified, plumbed, upgraded, modernized, etc.  For many years the book of directions was on Grandma's book shelf in the living room.

 

The buggy shed / horse stable / garage are long gone.

 

I remember my third Christmas and all the rest through my twenty second, and a few scattered later with awe and fond memories galore.

 

I still miss Sears.

 

Edited June 16 by Forty Rod SASS 3935

[J-BAR #18287]

I cashed paychecks at Sears because the banks were closed by the time I got off work.  The clerk was attractive and I worked up enough courage to ask her out for a date.  Unfortunately she was engaged (just didn't have a ring yet) but she set me up on a blind date with her friend.  Her friend and I have been married for 56 years.

 

So, yeah, no complaints about Sears.

[Bailey Creek,5759]

Years ago, I two daisy bb pistols that looked like colt army's.

Had a good time with them.

[Rough 'N Ready Rob]

I bought a lot of goodies from Sears. I miss them.

  We use to save the catalog for the outhouse at my uncles ranch, you would hang it over a small rope on the wall, that was your TP.

[J-BAR #18287]

33 minutes ago, Rough 'N Ready Rob said:

I bought a lot of goodies from Sears. I miss them.

  We use to save the catalog for the outhouse at my uncles ranch, you would hang it over a small rope on the wall, that was your TP.

Did your aunt tear out the lingerie pages?

[Brock]

Found on the web….

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

When I worked at Sears long ago, in the hardware dept., we had a big box in the back room that was filled with broken Craftsman hand tools. If someone brought in a broken hand tool no matter what age it was, they were given a new one absolutely free of charge! 

[Brock]

1 minute ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

When I worked at Sears long ago, in the hardware dept., we had a big box in the back room that was filled with broken Craftsman hand tools. If someone brought in a broken hand tool no matter what age it was, they were given a new one absolutely free of charge! 

I replaced a lot of stuff until their stuff became not worth the trip back to the store to replace.

[Dr. Zook]

1 hour ago, Brock said:

I replaced a lot of stuff until their stuff became not worth the trip back to the store to replace.

Our last brick and mortar Sears store in Phx at the end, would not replace a broken ratchet with a new one - you would get a refurbished one from behind the counter. Salesman said they had a rebuild kit (ratchet, gear and lever) that if they could repair yours, they would or you'd get a refurbished one if they couldnt. No new ratchet off the shelf.

Mini screwdriver, if you broke 1 you had to bring the set in to swap (last time I tried to get a replacement). Regular screwdriver if they had a single, they would swap if not bring in your old set and get a new set (didnt want to break up a new set). Sockets were still 1-1 replacement. You could almost see a drop in quality control from 70's era tools up until they went under. I know lowes and ace hardware carry the "craftsman" name but who really builds the tools? Other than China 😀

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

When I worked at Sears long ago, in the hardware dept., we had a big box in the back room that was filled with broken Craftsman hand tools. If someone brought in a broken hand tool no matter what age it was, they were given a new one absolutely free of charge! 

When I was in college, I took my girlfriend to the local Sears & Sawbuck.

We bought a set of combination wrenches, a screwdriver set, and a toolbox.

Still have them.

I told Dana (rest her soul!) that this was the start, I couldn't afford to buy all I needed, all at once, but this was the beginning, and I was buying quality, with that lifetime Sears Craftsman guarantee.

I have no idea what that poor girl saw in me ... taking her out on a date, to buy hand tools ... 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

My best friend worked at a Sears Distribution Center for about 10 years when he got out of High School, (1973). He was making a decent Wage, buying a house, married and a couple kids back then. But even back then he knew that it wouldn't last. 

The Internet is what killed Sears. They wanted to stick to their roots, the Mail Order Catalog. If they'd have embraced the Internet back then, Sears would've been bigger than Amazon. They didn't, they died.

[Stump Water]

1 hour ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

...that lifetime Sears Craftsman guarantee.

 

When I was a kid Sears had a TV commercial about their Craftsman tools and the guarantee.  It ended with a guy sitting in the middle of the lake in a boat working on the outboard motor.  Bloop... he dropped the wrench in the lake.  "The only time we won't replace a Craftsman tool."   ... or something like that.

 

Brother worked at Sears in high school.  He brought home several pocket knives with just the tip broken off of a blade.   We fixed those. 

[Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485]

I once found a reproduction Sears catalog from 1910 at a yard sale,  I was amazed at how much of that stuff we had, probably ordered by my grandparents. Maternal grandfather built a sears home. I have a book case/ gun case /writing desk , whatever it is it has my paternal grandfathers name and the small town he lived in written on the back. I was thinking who writes their name and town on the back of their furniture? Then it hit me, Sears did, probable all they needed to get it to him before WWI.

[Stump Water]

[Stump Water]

FWIW... the above images are in a folder named "1902 Sears Catalog".  I have no idea  if that's accurate.

[Rye Miles #13621]

47 minutes ago, Stump Water said:

FWIW... the above images are in a folder named "1902 Sears Catalog".  I have no idea  if that's accurate.

I have a reproduction 1897 Sears catalog, prices are similar to what you posted above.

[J-BAR #18287]

Catalog #112 was published in 1902; these pages are identified as catalog #111, so probably from 1901 or 1902, since catalogs were seaonal, more than one published each calendar year.

 

...back when a dollar was worth something!  An internet search says the average wage in 1902 was 22 cents an hour;  average annual income was $200 to $400.

So that Colt SAA that Sears sold for $12.20 would have taken about 56 hours worth of work.

 

[John Kloehr]

1 hour ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

 ... Colt SAA that Sears sold for $12.20 would have taken about 56 hours worth of work.

 

Google inflation calculator maths the dollars out as $472.33 today. That amount for 56 hours today would mean basically minimum wage, $8.43 per hour. Though today this would be net pay after Social Security and Medicare deductions.

[WOLFY]

the Sears in San Francisco sold me 22 ammo back when 14yr olds could buy stuff like that

[Blackwater 53393]

I have a very few Craftsman tools.  I never liked the way they felt in my hands. My aunt worked for Sears for many years and would give their tools to the men in the family for gifts.

 

I usually traded them to my father because he seemed to like them!

 

The few that I still have now seem clunky and crude compared to other quality brands that I have.

 

I DID like and use the DieHard automotive batteries back when they were a popular brand! They seemed to last and work better than other brands!

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

10 hours ago, Stump Water said:

I could walk in to Sears back then with about what I spend each month now on groceries, and have quite a decent collection of the kind of guns I now have insured for a heap more.