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Sears, Roebuck and Company is an American mid-range chain of
international department stores, founded by Richard Sears and
Alvah Roebuck in the late 19th century. It operates in Canada
under Sears Canada and Mexico under Sears Mexico. From its mail
order beginnings, the company grew to become the largest
retailer in the United States by the mid-20th century, and its
catalogs became famous. Competition and changes in the
demographics of its customer base challenged the company after
World War II as its rural and inner city strongholds shrank and
the suburban markets grew. Eventually its catalog program was
largely discontinued. Sears merged with Kmart in early 2005,
creating the Sears Holdings Corporation.
The largest Sears store in the world, operated by Sears Canada,
is 817,850 square feet (75,981 m²), in the Toronto Eaton Centre.
The largest American store is located near the Sears
headquarters at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, a suburb
of Chicago. It has 416,000 square feet (38,600 m²) of retail
space.
History
Sears Merchandise Building TowerIn 1886, the United States
contained only thirty-eight states. Many people lived in rural
areas and relied on agriculture. For many Americans, a single
general store was their source of supplies. Merchandise went
through many wholesalers on the way to the retail outlet, not an
inexpensive method of handling. Many general stores received
their shipments of merchandise through the growing network of
railroads.
Richard Sears and a shipment of watches
Richard Sears was a railroad station agent in North Redwood,
Minnesota when he received a shipment of watches from a Chicago
jeweler which were unwanted by a local jeweler. Sears purchased
them himself, sold the watches at a nice profit to other station
agents up and down the line, and then ordered more for resale.
Soon he started a business selling watches through mail order
catalogs. The next year, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he
met Alvah C. Roebuck, who joined him in the business. In 1893,
the corporate business name became Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Competing with general stores through mail order catalog
Richard Sears knew that farmers often brought their crops to
town, where they could be sold and shipped. Before the Sears
catalog, farmers typically bought supplies (often at very high
prices) from local general stores. Sears took advantage of this
by publishing his catalog with clearly stated prices, so that
consumers could know what he was selling and at what price, and
order and obtain them conveniently. The catalog business grew
quickly. By 1894, the Sears catalog had grown to 322 pages,
featuring sewing machines, bicycles, sporting goods, and a host
of other new items.
Organizing the company so it could handle orders on an
economical and efficient basis, Chicago clothing manufacturer
Julius Rosenwald became a part-owner in 1895. Alvah Roebuck had
to resign soon after due to ill-health, but the company still
retained his name. By the following year, dolls, refrigerators,
stoves and groceries had been added to the catalog.
Sears, Roebuck and Company soon developed a reputation for both
quality products and customer satisfaction. By 1895, the company
was producing a 532 page catalog with the largest variety of
items that anybody back then could have thought of. “In 1893,
the sales topped 400,000 dollars. Two years later they exceeded
750,000 dollars.”
In 1906 Sears opened its catalog plant which included the
original Sears Tower pictured on this page.
Selling, advertising, merchandising—these were Richard Sears'
talents, not organizing the company so it could handle orders on
an economical and efficient basis. That was left to Chicago
clothing manufacturer Julius Rosenwald, who bought into the
company in 1895.
Sears catalog homes
Main article: Sears Catalog Home
People had learned to trust Sears for other products bought
mail-order, and thus, sight unseen. This laid important
groundwork for supplying a home, possibly the largest single
purchase a typical family would ever make. In 1908, the company
began offering entire houses as kits, marketed as Sears Modern
Homes, and by the time the program ended in 1940, over 100,000
had been sold.
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