The Rise and Fall of the Mail Order Giants — A Chicago Stories Documentary

The catalogs of Sears, Roebuck, and Co., and Montgomery Ward were icons of Americana, beloved and eagerly anticipated. More than just a collection of necessities and Christmas wishes, the items within the many pages of those catalogs reflected the aspirations of American families, as well as the power of companies to shape how people shopped and what they bought. The rise and fall of these mail order giants is intertwined with the history of Chicago and the rest of America.

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#ChicagoStoriesWTTW

[bryn]

What's sad is that Sears 'invented' distance shopping and totally failed to embrace online shopping early enough to remain competitive :(

[milissasilks]

My mom worked at a Sears catalog store location in Downers Grove in the 70's. When the catalog department got shut down she got a job in the young girls department at the Oak Brook location where she worked until she retired in the early 2000's. Most of my clothes growing up came from Sears. Our family cars were all serviced at Sears. All my dad's tools were Craftsman and all our appliances were Kenmore.

[michelehood]

I even remember how the Sears catalog smelled - the ink and paper had a distinctive scent ❤ As a kid, it smelled like Christmas hopes and dreams!

[avissmith]

I was a Sears catalog phone operator. I remember taking phone calls from customers and using an old style computer with a fill in the blank template, taking orders. It was so much fun. There were 10 of us!

[mattkaustickomments]

We had a local pizza restaurant that used a genius idea for entertaining customers who were waiting for tables… they put old Sears, Ward, and Penney’s catalogues from the 60’s and 70’s in the lobby. It was a real hoot to look up things you had in your house in the past or toys you had wanted for Xmas. 😊

[KirkandRA]

I love this series. The Sears catalog used to be our Christmas list. We would circle what we wanted ❤

[pathader]

I miss Sears, stove and refrigerator, washer and dryer, hot water tank, furnaces, automotive, and they lasted 25 yr.😢😢😢😢 So horrible that they are gone.
Quality merchandise that lasted for years not like today, toss out like a Kleenex.

[baylorsailor]

My parents live in a 1915 Sears kit home. The quality and craftsmanship are hard to find in todays world.

[TheHoppesl]

I miss the JC Penny catalog! As a young newly married woman, I would go through the catalog and put bookmarks where there was something I hoped to buy during the year. I marked curtains, bedspreads, sheets, household items and clothes! I would buy them throughout the year as I could afford them. It was my goal to have everything marked in the fall catalog bought before the spring catalog came out. It was fun to a have a plan. Everything in my house was from the JC Penny catalog!

[JerryFisher]

I am old enough to remember watching cartoons where the coyote would order something from Acme. He’d stand impatiently at the mailbox and seconds later his latest tool to destroy the roadrunner would arrive. As a kid I thought it would be fantastic to get things that fast. Little did I know I only had to wait 30 years for this to almost come to pass.

[ramblerdave]

My niece owns a Sears house, built in 1928. They found the blueprints in the attic, and framed them, and hung them in the hallway.

[Tina]

I continue sewing on my 38 year old Kenmore sewing machine. (We did get a major repair/servicing done on it 10 years ago.)

[davidk]

I loved Sears ... my mom worked at a Sears catalog dept outlet in our only mall in the 1960's. She absolutely loved it and loved going to work when most gals didn't have a job ... she stayed with Sears thru the 70's when they built a huge store at the new huge shopping mall in the burbs. Thank you Sears and all her wonderful friends ... you have no idea how much my mom loved you and never forgot you !

[SusanCox-plqp]

Amazon, while their products are delivered quickly, NOTHING can match the Sears catalog!

[delana]

Outstanding documentary! Yes, Amazon, Zappo, Walmart, etc. would be nothing without Sears, Wards, Woolworths and Kresge, giants of Anerican retail history and sorely missed.

[jimsquirrel]

I am so glad I fell into this series! Always looking for new historical documentaries since History channel isn’t the same anymore!

[LM-sclu]

When I interviewed as a salesman at Sears in the late 1980s, the Sales Manager asked, "Why do you want to work for Sears?" I replied, "Because the sign on the front of the store says Sears. People already trust the place; you give me the customers, I'll give you the sales." I got the job. Sears (at least my store) was so concerned with customer service that an old er gentleman dropped a window air conditioner from his second-story window and brought it back for a replacement before his wife found out. I tried to explain our guarantee didn't cover preventable accidents (negligence), but he insisted on talking to my manager, who gave the man a new A/C!! Sears should have kept up with the times and might still be in business.





I tried to explain.

[texaswunderkind]

I miss American-made quality products. Had I known, I would have bought every Craftsman tool set I could have afforded before they switched to cheap overseas manufacture.

Viewing this documentary, it was clear that these 19th Century entrepreneurs took immense pride in the United States, not just money. Big corporations are the exact opposite today.

[shelleyhewett]

One of my happiest memories was when my Grandma would call and say “The Christmas Wish book came in the mail today!”….

[thomsinefrye]

JC Penney was also a Christmas catalog in our house.