Sears
Mostly everyone knows about Sears, which is the name of one of the oldest departmental stores in United States of America. Sears had been around for a very long time. In fact the company has been one of the favorite of people of America since 1893 when two men, Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck, came up with the idea of selling household goods to people living in remote rural areas. Sears and Roebuck’s initial offerings consisted of items such as cooking stoves, sewing machines, ice boxes, and the like — all of which could be ordered from a catalog. 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.
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. I remember reading in one of my history textbooks that the catalog eventually came to represent much more to customers than simply a means of obtaining necessary goods. Instead, it became something of a connection to the outer world and was soon viewed as a welcome relief from feelings of isolation and boredom. So in just a few short years, Sears, Roebuck and Co., as the venture was now officially known, was a huge success. Actually, that original catalog business was so successful that the two partners didn’t even think to open a retail store until 1925 in Indiana — a full 32 years after they issued their first catalog!
The retail store were an immediate hit, and because of which these stores began springing up as standalone entities of the Midwest. In the middle of 20th century Sears began the practice of building its stores as retail anchors in shopping malls across the country. This is how people came to know about the store which became a brand outlet. Slowly as the time passed by and the stores got bigger and bigger, more and more new items were added in the companies list, eventually it became the first store that middle class families turned to for all of their clothing and appliance needs. Sears got tremendous success with their own brands, which included Craftsman for tools, DieHard for automobile batteries, Kenmore for home appliances and Joe Boxer for clothing. The addition of the store credit card also helped the store to become more popular among the general public and soon it became the nations largest selling retailer store.
As a business entity, the Sears corporation diversified and opened another chain of stores called the K-Mart and Land’s End. They also ventured into non-retail business including the Allstate Insurance Company, The Discover credit card, and national real estate firm. But ever shrinking margins because of stiff competition from Walmart and other stores coupled with non-retail business pressures took the toll out of the store and eventually they sold off the entity. Even the venerable Sears catalog, which had been a mainstay from the beginning, was dropped in 1993.
Despite all the ups and downs, I think the current makeup of Sears stores is remarkably similar to the vision that its founders had way back in 1893. After all, today’s consumers still view Sears as a trusted place to buy stoves, sewing machines, refrigerators, and a whole lot more. Somehow, I think the two partners would be very satisfied to know how their little venture turned out!
For more information visit consumer reports or free consumer reports.
Tags: Joe Boxer, mail order, sears mexico, initial offerings, non-retail business pressures, sears and roebuck, Roebuck and Co., sears catalog, sears roebuck and company Originally posted 2007-10-26 20:07:40.
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