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Sears & Roebuck - The Good Old Days
July 27, 2024, 09:32 AM
Z06Sears & Roebuck - The Good Old Days
These went 'paperless' back then.
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The trouble with trouble is; it always starts out as fun.
July 27, 2024, 10:46 AM
Redleg06Teddy Roosevelt's Maxim equipped 1894...
"Cedat Fortuna Peritis"
July 27, 2024, 10:57 AM
grumpy1Good stuff. I remember as a kid during the early 60s wandering the sporting goods section of Sears checking out Baseball gloves and .22 rifles and shotguns. Their power tool selection was nothing sort of amazing with dozens of table saws and everything else.
July 27, 2024, 11:14 AM
eagle0199I remember (in the mid-60's) buying a Fincub Sporter 7.62x54R from Sears, $16 delivered to my P.O Box. It was one of the Mosins with the stock cut down, barrel shortened, bolt handle bent, and reblued.
Kept it a few years, got one deer with it but finally sold it for $35.
Phu Bai, Vietnam, 68-69
Baghdad, Iraq, 04-05
July 27, 2024, 11:25 AM
newtoSig765The Sears at Harlem and North just outside Oak Park, IL had a bunch of WWII M1's for sale, both Garands and Carbines. Don't remember the prices, but they were just out of reach for a kid whose only income was from a paper route. This would have been around the same time as eagle0199's experience, early- to mid-1960's, and I really wanted a Carbine.
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Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
-- H L Mencken
I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is.
-- JALLEN 10/18/18
July 27, 2024, 11:28 AM
Pipe SmokerMe too!
The Sears & Roebuck store in Kansas City MO was a delight to this small town kid in the 50s. The .22 rifles of course, but other things too. I bought my Crossman .22 CO2 pellet pistol there.
It wasn’t air conditioned so in the summertime they had portable fans directed towards the aisles. And some directed upwards elevating a vinyl ball that magically remained positioned in the air stream.
And the network of pneumatic tubes at the order counter that sucked in a cylinder that contained your order. And delivered pick-up tickets.
Serious about crackers. July 27, 2024, 12:04 PM
selogicMore than once I took a broken Craftsman tool that I had found on the side of the road or dug out of the trash and exchanged it for a new one .
July 27, 2024, 01:24 PM
2AdefenderDid they offer a good suppressor, a better suppressor, and a best suppressor?
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2nd Amendment Defender
The Second Amendment is not about hunting or sport shooting.
July 27, 2024, 01:29 PM
oddballAs a kid in the 60s, our family used to go to Sears on Friday night for entertainment; grab a bag of popcorn and browse the store, not buying anything. My brother and I looked at the guns and go-carts/mini bikes, boy we wanted one of those. And of course my parents bought a lot of things from Sears- most of our clothes, tools, furniture, appliances, etc. The one store that defined my childhood.
"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965
July 27, 2024, 01:30 PM
Rey HRHThose are definitely the good old days. Sears & Roebuck was my dad's go to store. It was my first "credit card." I had a full set of craftsman tools that were still Made in America.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
July 27, 2024, 02:04 PM
stiabIn my childhood you could order animals from the Sears Catalog, like donkeys and parrots. The stores had lunch counters where you could get foot long hot dogs, and they sold guns, and eveything else a young boy longed for. Those were the days!
"While not every Democrat is a horse thief, every horse thief is a Democrat." HORACE GREELEY
July 27, 2024, 02:06 PM
John SteedMy Mother worked at Sears before she married my Dad. I think she continued to get the discount a long time after she left.
Our clothes, shoes, ball gloves and bats, etc., all came from Sears. Dad's hand tools were all Craftsman, as were mine well up into the 1990's.
I remember "Good, Better, Best" for socks and such items. I also recall many an evening poring over the firearm section of the huge Sears Catalog. There were page after page of S&W and Colt handguns. Different times for sure.
... stirred anti-clockwise. July 27, 2024, 02:12 PM
P-220Very cool throwback.
It is hard to imagine Sears is no more.
Niech Zyje P-220
Steve
July 27, 2024, 02:16 PM
radiomanmy uncle had one of these under the dash of a blue 1964 Chevrolet pick up truck. good times.
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July 27, 2024, 02:24 PM
honestlouquote:
Originally posted by selogic:
More than once I took a broken Craftsman tool that I had found on the side of the road or dug out of the trash and exchanged it for a new one .
You’re the reason Sears is gone!
Seriously, I understand the promotional value of “no questions asked” warranty, but wow, that model is not sustainable.
July 27, 2024, 02:30 PM
SchmelbyThat's right on the good better best. forty years ago I bought the best 50 foot
garden hose, it's still as good as the day I bought it. I replaced the brass
coupling a couple times. I finally learned when I reeled it in not let bounce
along the driveway, it ruined the threads. The yearly catalogue was huge.
July 27, 2024, 02:40 PM
12131quote:
Originally posted by oddball:
As a kid in the 60s, our family used to go to Sears on Friday night for entertainment; grab a bag of popcorn and browse the store, not buying anything.
As a kid in the 60s, the closest thing to Sears we had was perusing their massive catalog that one of my sisters had, sitting half a world away, dreaming about what we would buy.
Q
July 27, 2024, 02:49 PM
pbslingerThe yearly catalog was great, especially the ladies undergarment section. My first credit card, I always heard it was a tough card to get, and I'll always appreciate that Sears help put me on a good credit path.
I'm amazed that what started as a mail order company couldn't adapt to internet sales.
July 27, 2024, 03:06 PM
SchmelbyIf I remember correctly, you could buy a house from Sears, ship it to you on pallets with instructions on how to put it together.
July 27, 2024, 03:10 PM
EdmondMany memories of my grandfather picking me up from elementary school and stopping for a hotdog at their cafeteria before heading home.
I worked there briefly. Got some great deals on tool chests that were scratch and dent. Craftsman tools are still my go to hand tools. When they started making tools in China but kept American prices, I stopped buying them. There was no point in buying a Chinese made tool but paying American prices when Harbor Freight sold Chinese tools at a Chinese price.
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