So sad - Sears now a 85 Cent penny stock
?mod=1533691907
All of which is a stunning reversal for a company that was once not only the nation's largest retailer, but also its largest employer.
In its heyday, Sears was both the Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN) of its time. In the late 19th century and early decades of the 20th century, many Americans bought mass-produced goods for the first time through the Sears catalog. Most lived on farms and in small towns, and had previously made many of the goods they needed, such as clothes and furniture, themselves.
Sears stores helped reshape America itself, drawing shoppers away from traditional Main Street merchants and into malls, contributing to the suburbanization of the country after World War II. And its appliances introduced many American homes to labor-saving devices that changed family dynamics.
But long before the rise of Amazon and online shopping, Sears struggled to keep up with changing shopping habits.
https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/28/news/companies/sears-penny-stock/index.html
I recall it was such a "step up" to shop at Sears. You knew you made it into the middle class when you shopped at Sears. And the catalog, such wonders to behold back in the 60's - pouring over those pages and dreaming what your life could be if only dad and mom could afford such things to make my greedy life more enjoyable.
= new reply since forum marked as read
An event!
When for a while as a child I lived outside a tiny village just outside Yosemite, it had the importance now held by malls, downtown shopping districts, big box stores, and on-line shopping all condensed into one thick, heavy shopping extravagance. My entire back-to-school wardrobe, lunch box, snow clothes and more all came out of it.
It is sad, and being such a long time in decline makes it sadder of course.
with Tinkerbell or some such thing on it from Monkey Ward. I really wanted it, but my sister insisted on one order, and that was going to Sears. Oh, my! Just realized. It's wasn't my nuisance, but we've also mostly lost toting up totals, looking up taxes, handwriting checks, addressing and stamping envelopes. The dusky walks to the mailbox.
That last was nice. The cat always went on our walks with us, and kittens at times.
That's a nice, really well-written memory.
school clothes, if I'll recognize them from the pictures. All I remember clearly is a sweater to go with the round felt poodle skirt my sister made me. Some of those 1959 women's outfits look really nice. On the models, anyway.
Thanks! Fun for a bunch of people, including the deprived generations who've never seen one.
Did you also cut out pictures from the old catalogs for school projects or rainy day play?
dresses I cut out, ones I wanted.
also if you asked him, PJ. Traumatic enough to stick.
Looking at a couple of the catalogs Targetpractice posted, Raine, I'm guessing you'd still like those little girls' dresses. I remember searching through an old Christmas catalog (those things were huge) for dresses to cut out too, also accessories, including toys and pets, but they had to be ones that would sort of fit a set of paper dolls.
There's a lamp I'd like to have today, smaller shade is all. Maybe I'll find it in a thrift shop or estate sale someday, and now I won't see it in anyone else's house. Then it was normal for friends to have the same Sears and Ward's wall decor accessories. The next huge advances in production that would change all that must already have been in the works in the 1960s, but my sister and her friends could never have imagined what was coming.
He's probably out looking for a food bank so he doesn't starve.
Wall Street wanted them to drop it .... thanks Wall Street.
Really though, times change, stores change, whatever. It's not that big of a deal. Many of these places failed to adapt when new technologies came along and are still thinking the 1950s business model will work forever. In another 30 years when Amazon is worth 25 cents per share, I'll look forward to commenting about that too
