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"A dazzling trove for students of Americana." Time...
Imagine it’s the end of the nineteenth century, and, with one catalog, you can buy everything from beds and tools to clothing and opium. (Yes, opium.) Not to mention ear trumpets, horse buggies, and Bibles. For every recognizable item included in the 1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue, plenty of others are guaranteed to confuse or interest 21st century readers—like Bust Cream or Food and Sweet Spirits of Nitre. What was once standard household fare is today a sometimes strange, often funny look at what life was once like for the average American family. Sears, Roebuck & Co. has defined and innovated American retail for years. As the company grew from humble beginnings, its catalog selec...
It was massive beyond all comprehension, it was incredibly cheap, it had everything in stock—it was Sears, Roebuck & Co. at the turn of the twentieth century. Oh, and it had a few kinks to work out. As one customer reportedly complained: “For heaven's sake, quit sending me sewing machines. Every time I go to the station I find another one there. You have shipped me five already.” But the company would gain a handle on its rapid growth and develop a reputation for efficiency and customer satisfaction. The catalog selection exploded to include all sorts of categories, from watches and jewelry to sporting goods, firearms, furniture, shoes, clothes, toiletries, toys, and almost anything else imaginable—including, of course, Dr. Hammonds Nerve and Brain Tablets, billed as the “Great Remedy for Weak Men,” for all those neurological disturbances men may have sought to cure in conjunction with ordering a sewing machine throughout the ages. With merchandise ranging from ordinary to fantastical (all priced at the pennies-on-the-dollar rate of yore), browsing through this vintage collection is sure to be an enjoyable experience. Now if only it came with a time machine . . .
Located on the site of the original Sears Tower, the historic Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog plant is one of the nations most unique landmarks. Representing American ingenuity at its best, Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald combined technology, commerce, and social science with bricks and mortar to build the Worlds Largest Store on Chicagos West Side. Completed in 1906, the plant housed nearly every conceivable product of the time: clothing, jewelry, furniture, appliances, tools, and more. The complex employed 20,000 people, and merchandise orders were processed and delivered by railwithin the same day. During the first two decades of the 20th century, almost half of Americas families sh...
A fascinating piece of history and a window to turn-of-the-century America. The Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog was the Amazon.com of its day, giving American families across the country access to thousands of items from clothing and furniture to buggies and hair tonic. Whether they could buy it or not, people would pour over the massive volume that represented an icon in American retail. The 1908 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue offers an amazing look at life in early twentieth-century America. Sears, Roebuck & Co. have defined and innovated American retail for years, As the company grew from humble beginnings, it’s catalog selection exploded to include all sorts of categories and encompassed almost everything imaginable. With merchandise ranging from ordinary to fantastical (and almost all of it priced at the pennies-on-the-dollar rate of the time), browsing through this vintage collection is sure to be an enjoyable experience.
Proudly advertising its enormous inventory shipped from "Cheapest Supply House on Earth," in 1894, the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog offered substantial savings for rural dwellers on almost everything. And everything means everything. From pianos and firearms to clothing, watches, and jewelry, this well-known American superstore had it all. Need a sewing machine guaranteed to last ten years? Just $17.55 from Sears, Roebuck and Co. And why not buy solid gold? Solid gold watches, that is, for just thirty to fifty dollars. In the musical goods department, guitars came with free instruction books, mandolins were becoming so popular that sales had more than doubled in a year, and violins were im...
Faithful reprint of the retailer's Christmas catalog offers a nostalgia-inducing look at consumer goods of the 1940s, from toys to housewares, clothing, furniture, candy, and a selection of gifts for servicemen.
This facsimile of the Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s 1945 Christmas catalog offers a nostalgic look back at consumer goods of the era, from dolls and toy trains to housewares, clothing, furniture, candy, and much more. Also reproduced here is an insightful poem, "Christmas Peace," included in the original mailing to commemorate the end of the war.