Why Am I Sad Sears Is Closing?

[cjefferys]

^^ THIS - my wife's best friend was a service dispatching supervisor there for 10+ years, let go just before she was going on maternity leave. The last year has been a crazy financial struggle for them.

Oh man, that really sucks. Sears Canada really screwed their long time workers, while the folks at the top got some fat severance packages. That's why I refused to step inside one of their stores after all this went down (not hard to do, as their "clearance" sales were a joke anyway).

[Jorge Galvan]

the sears Xmas catalog was always a joy to look at, and it is very sad, that it has gone the way it has, felt the same way with WOOLWORTH's.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Geez, I'd forgotten about all of those cartoon booths! I have no idea where I sat in one, but I know I did...somewhere.

We had a Sears Catalog store in our town. My Mom went there to pick up most of our birthday and Christmas gifts. She was a HUGE catalog buyer.

Chris

[Hedji]

Good Lord, that Kiddierama booth.

I don't recall those, but what a delight! I'd love to build one for my home.

[Brazoo]

Sears went belly up in Canada last year, screwing their employees but giving their executives bonuses. If they had have survived, I'd have stopped shopping there.

Nothing but fond childhood memories there and I was a regular shopper there. It was quiet.

^^ THIS - my wife's best friend was a service dispatching supervisor there for 10+ years, let go just before she was going on maternity leave. The last year has been a crazy financial struggle for them.

Having said that, I bought all my appliences from them a few years ago. The prices and payment plan was great. I barely needed to shop around.

[megomania]

^ That triggers a vague memory for me. I seem to remember old cartoons and one was the penguin...chilly silly or something like that. I couldn’t tell you were the booth was, I was too young, but it very well could have been at Sears.

- Ian

EDIT: I think we are both thinking of a Kiddierama booth:

Man those booths were awesome...I could have lived in one of those. So much fun.

-Chris

[Makernaut]

Some of my family live in an Illinois town called Carlinville. It has a neighborhood of Sears Robuck mail order homes. I believe that CBS’s Sunday Morning did a story on this neighborhood a few years ago.

- Ian

That is so cool. I love that kind of history.

I was looking at some of the designs and I am fairly certain I could drive around in an afternoon and take pictures to post of a couple of houses in the older part of my town that would match some of those Sears designs perfectly.

Here is a link to the news story I mentioned. The exact words were "Craftsman style designs", but that is a direct reference to the Sears homes that were mentioned. Think "Craftsman Tools" because that's what became their trademark.

http://www.news9.com/story/39279027/...s-to-okc-metro

It's interesting to think, with mention of Amazon and Walmart being the demise of Sears, that historically, Sears was the demise of many small town business, too, in its day.

[EmergencyIan]

Indeed! In fact, I just saw a news story this week from OKC and the guy mentioned the affordable housing his group was building was very similar to the old Sears and Roebuck Bungalows.

http://www.arts-crafts.com/archive/sears/

Some of my family live in an Illinois town called Carlinville. It has a neighborhood of Sears Robuck mail order homes. I believe that CBS’s Sunday Morning did a story on this neighborhood a few years ago.

- Ian

[Makernaut]

Heck,I read they use to sell houses way back when,so they were waaay ahead of Amazon on quite a few things.

Indeed! In fact, I just saw a news story this week from OKC and the guy mentioned the affordable housing his group was building was very similar to the old Sears and Roebuck Bungalows.

http://www.arts-crafts.com/archive/sears/

[jwyblejr]

I think that was Chilly Willy. Lots of great childhood memories from Sears: I got my first Major Matt Mason figure, the AMT Star Trek Klingon Cruiser model kit (long box), and the G.I. Joe Adventure Team “The Fate of the Trouble Shooter” set just to name a few favorites. Later on, I always went there for Craftsman tools and bought my first major appliances there just based on the Kenmore brand alone. Sorry to see them go as they were an American retail institution for well over a hundred years, but they did it to themselves as the chain hasn’t been fit to shop in for decades. If you think about it, they were the Amazon of the 60’s and 70’s.

Heck,I read they use to sell houses way back when,so they were waaay ahead of Amazon on quite a few things.

[Makernaut]

There was a Sears in Oklahoma City that will forever be one of the strongest memories of my childhood. The first thing that hit you when you walked through the doors was this awesome smell of popcorn. No theatre can match the smell of that popcorn. To this day, I walk into a theatre and think, "Close, but not quite'. Also, I was into NFL Football and no one carried the haul of paraphernalia that Sears had to make my 7 year old head spin. They had a huge section of NFL goodies. Over the years there were lots of things about Sears I can remember, but those two things are my strongest memory and they are anchored in that specific store.

https://www.405magazine.com/May-2018...A-Bygone-Icon/

Here's a short article with a pic of how I remember the outside looking. Even mentions how the candy counter made the whole place smell good.

(Edited to add: I think I said goodbye to Sears when they knocked that one down 20 plus years ago, so Sears has been "gone" for me for a very long time.)

[Obibob]

I think that was Chilly Willy. Lots of great childhood memories from Sears: I got my first Major Matt Mason figure, the AMT Star Trek Klingon Cruiser model kit (long box), and the G.I. Joe Adventure Team “The Fate of the Trouble Shooter” set just to name a few favorites. Later on, I always went there for Craftsman tools and bought my first major appliances there just based on the Kenmore brand alone. Sorry to see them go as they were an American retail institution for well over a hundred years, but they did it to themselves as the chain hasn’t been fit to shop in for decades. If you think about it, they were the Amazon of the 60’s and 70’s.

[EmergencyIan]

^ That triggers a vague memory for me. I seem to remember old cartoons and one was the penguin...chilly silly or something like that. I couldn’t tell you were the booth was, I was too young, but it very well could have been at Sears.

- Ian

EDIT: I think we are both thinking of a Kiddierama booth:

[TomStrong]

I remember going there as a kid and watching cartoons in a “booth” for lack of a better term while my mom shopped. It was like an enclosed video game with a quarter operated film projector inside. It was so cool! Never saw another one anywhere but the Sears in Florence, Alabama.

[Hedji]

I used to enjoy going into Sears and trying out the Intellivision games they had on display.

The adult in me is bummed that's one less place you can get a garage door opener or snow blower.