Once upon a time, the retail titans of Sears and JCPenney ruled across America. In addition to their dominating retail presence, the companies published fat mail-order catalog, filled to bursting with all the wares you could possibly imagine. You could get practically anything you wanted, from baby clothes to gravestones and everything you’d need in the intervening years as well. In fact, way back when, these retailers would even sell you a whole entire engine. Beat that, Walmart!
The 20th century really was the golden era for American retail. Department store footprints grew ever larger, often serving as anchor tenants for the malls that began to supplant traditional “Main Street” retail. The idea was to put as much as possible under one roof, because why would you want to go to multiple stores when you could get everything at just one? That same ethos underpinned the mail-order side of these businesses, too. Seasonal catalogs were published that often exceeded 1,000 pages in length. They typically featured long indexes to help customers find what they were looking for, which were inexplicably placed somewhere roughly in the middle of the catalog. Some suggest this was a feature designed specifically to irritate 21st century researchers, but it’s a theory yet to be confirmed with supporting evidence.
Sears was perhaps the most well-known operator in this space; its popular catalog was often referred to as “The Consumer’s Bible.” Founder Richard Warren Sears founded a number of mail-order catalogs, with the main operation kicking off in 1906 and eventually leading to the withered husk that is Sears today. JC Penney’s operation would launch its own catalog in 1963, to pair along with its long-established retail stores. Both were relative newcomers compared to mail-order specialists Montgomery Ward, however, which kicked off in 1872. Indeed, it was one of Sears’ earlier operations that proved to be the first major competition for Montgomery Ward in the dying years of the 19th century.
These catalogs typically featured everything from clothing to tools and home appliances, and even a strong range of automotive parts and accessories. Dress-up parts like lights and mirrors were common, as well as mufflers and air filters and other wear items. Of course, back in the old days, things like valves and rings were considered regular wear items, and you could order those too! Heck, you could even get a set of replacement rocker panels if yours had rusted out. But beyond all the bits and pieces, you could even order entire reconditioned engines and transmissions. In that era, a handful of engine designs covered the majority of cars on sale in America. Engines didn’t really last as long, with the sciences of metallurgy and lubrication not at the same level of advancement as today. Engine overhauls, rebuilds, and replacements weren’t so uncommon, creating a strong market for both parts and entire engines.
In my research, I’ve found a great number of preserved catalogs from the 20th century. Sadly, records available online are incomplete, with old retail catalogs rarely sitting top of the list for preservationists. Thankfully, organizations like the Internet Archive and a strange collection at Muse Technical exist, with hard-working archivists having digitized many of these publications. The latter collection is particularly useful for our purposes here, though true archivists don’t usually watermark over the source material.
Sears seems to have sold replacement engines for longer than most. The 1940 Sears Spring/Summer catalog features both remanufactured and “new block” engines for a variety of models. The engines were promoted as a great solution for those suffering from reduced performance in their current vehicle, touted as being little more expensive than an overhaul. Payment plans were offered that could make the deal more attractive, and engines were typically offered with a 90 day or 4000 mile warranty. That might sound short today, but the catalog states that it’s the same offered on new cars of the day. Short-block engines for Ford’s Flathead V8 Model A and B were available, along with short blocks and complete engines for the contemporary Chevrolet and Plymouth inline sixes. Rebuilt transmissions were available, too. The work was typically handled by independent rebuilders, working under the Sears banner.
Sears still offered engines in its catalogs at least until 1993, and possibly longer. Most catalogs posted online are the Christmas and Wish Book editions that eschew most or all of the auto parts the company offered. Still, in the 1990s, you could get “premium” Sears Best remanufactured short blocks and long blocks in a variety of configurations, with the latter requiring the reuse of just the original valve covers, timing cover, and oil pan. Sears offered remanufactured Chevy 305s and 350s, Ford 302s and 351 Windsors, and GM’s 231 (3.8-liter) V6. You could also get Chrysler 318s and 360s.
Sears wasn’t just sticking to domestic stuff, either. It also offered engines for the VW Beetle as well as some Japanese models. Notably, import models got flat rate shipping at $70, compared to $80 for domestic engines. It’s clearly a decision made given that most domestic engines were larger and heavier on average than the import stuff. Notably, Japanese and VW engines were sold outright, while domestic engines could be had cheaper if you traded-in your old engine.
Domestic engines got the best warranty at 5 years or 50,000 miles. Import engines had to make do with 3 years and 36,000 miles, while diesel, rotary, and VW engines were only warrantied for 12 months or 12,000 miles. Yes, you could really ring Sears in 1993 and ask them to sell you a reconditioned engine for your Mazda RX-7. Did anyone ever do this?! I’m positively dying to know.
JC Penney sold engines right out of the blocks when it published its first catalog in 1963. However, my research shows the engines available only up until the 1969 catalog. The 1970 catalogs remain a mystery to me, and engines appear entirely absent by 1971. Unlike Sears, JC Penney, or “Penney’s” as its catalog was known, didn’t really try to brand the operation as an in-house thing. It was open about the fact that it was offering remanufactured engines, crankshafts, and transmissions from Foremost, which were shipped straight from the factory.
J.C. Penney, as it was then known, primarily sold domestic remanufactured engines, complete with heads. Early on, it covered brands like Oldsmobile, Nash, and Studebaker, in addition to the main brands from the Big Three. In 1969, It covered a wide range of Ford and Mercury products, including the Mustang, Comet, Falcon, and Fairlane, along with Dodge, Chevy, and Plymouth products, too. By then, it even offered a remanufactured V8 for the Pontiac GTO. You could also get a range of Willys Jeep engines, including the 134 and 161 engines in both flathead and overhead-valve configurations, as well as the 226 flathead six as well. You could also score a remanufactured VW engine if you were getting around in a Beetle, Karmann Ghia, or a Transporter. In 1969, the engines came with a 12 month or 12,000 mile warranty. Via the Penney’s catalog, Foremost offered 40 different engines, including the VW ones.
Montgomery Ward was a competitor to both companies mentioned above, and operated as a mail-order business first and foremost. It offered engines in many of its catalogs, with the earliest I’ve found coming from 1956, and the latest 1985. It’s possible they were offered outside those dates, too, though the brand died in 2001. After poor sales in the 2000 Christmas season, the company announced it would cease operating entirely, laying off a full 37,000 employees and shutting 250 retail outlets in the process.
Still, when it was around, Montgomery Ward was more than happy to help with your engine troubles. In 1956, it touted the virtues of its rebuilt motors, noting they were completely rebuilt. “Every bolt, stud and plug removed, all worn parts are junked,” noted the copy. Much like its contemporaries, the company touted its remanufactured engines as a superior option to a simple overhaul involving fresh rings and reground valves. It offered engines for domestic makes, including the Big Three, Jeep, Studebaker, and even Kaiser-Frazer. By 1985, it was still focusing on U.S. product, offering engines largely just for Chevy, Dodge, Plymouth, Ford, and Mercury models. Rebuilds were handled by factories in a number of states, with shipping arranged from the closest factory to the customer. Engines could be bought outright, or had marginally cheaper by trading in one’s old engine.
Eventually, though, engines left the hallowed pages of the most glorious catalogs in all of capitalism. AS number of factors were likely at play. Over the years, technology improved, and engines started lasting longer with far less performance drop-off over time. Back in the day, the catalogs talked about the greater power and performance of a brand-new or reconditioned engine, versus a tired old one. In the middle of the 20th century, an engine running on old-school fuel and old-school lubricants could be pretty worn out by the 100,000 mile mark. These days, engines tend to run well for hundreds of thousands of miles if properly maintained, at which point a car tends to become uneconomical to repair.
Trends also changed, with fewer people working on their own cars. Engine variants proliferated to a great degree, too, where before stocking just a few engines would cover a vast number of vehicles on the road. Indeed, Sears abandoned a table in its catalogs and switched to a hotline, likely for this very reason. In any case, if you add up all these factors, and it’s easy to see why Sears and JCPenney got out of the business.
Of course, it bears noting that you can still mail order an engine today. You just need to do it from a dedicated auto supplier instead of a general department store. With that said, it’s also possible to consider Amazon as a natural successor to the sell-you-everything ethos of Sears and JCPenney. And, wouldn’t you know it, you can order a crate engine from Amazon, though options are largely limited to a handful of Ford and Chevy V8s. Oh, and this 10.3L diesel for a New Holland combine harvester. If you’ve got the coin to spare, drop the latter in a Crown Victoria and drop us a line.
It’s actually kind of strange to think of Amazon selling high-performance crate engines. If I was going to drop close to $30,000 on a crate engine, I would probably want to order it from a specialist supplier that handles such items regularly.
The sad reality of our modern world is that you can’t thumb through a big paper catalog on the toilet and pick out a remanufactured engine for your ’65 Chevy. It really is a shame, but at least we have … nope, I’m being told that straws suck today, too. Well, let’s just celebrate the fact that we’ve got the Internet, fuel injection, and engines that last more than 100,000 miles without shredding the rings and scoring the bores to hell. Hooray!
Image credits: Sears, JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, Amazon via screenshot
got my mom an engine for Christmas. Dad was thrilled
Hours searching the Canadian versions of these catalogs (Eatons, Simpsons and Canadian Tire) and making lists of things (by category) that we would like to order got my brothers and I through many a vicious Canadian winter day. The online experience sucks by comparison.
At the turn of the 20th Century you could buy a heroin kit in the Sear’s Catalogue!
I miss Sears in general, my grandparents used to have us all pick something out of the toy catalog every Christmas, worked at the one at the mall as a stock boy for my 2nd job in high school, when we bought our first house the local Sears Hardware had all the things for fixing the garage door opener and a replacement sink disposal.
Dangit stupid corporate CEOs! Taking away the things I liked!
Still order one from Walmart….
I think it’s worth mentioning how important these catalogues were to people in rural areas.
My father in law was sent to work on a farm as a child during the depression (they probably didn’t even give him shoes). He once explained that everything they had was either grown there, made there or came out of an Eaton’s catalogue. He worked occasionally in the local post office. He said it looked like a big warehouse full of everything you can imagine. Letter carriers had to be able to handle moving furniture and fixtures, you name it. Likely engines too.
Also, these were an excellent source of toilet paper. People still find parts of them in old outhouses.
My wife’s family (parents) were both from rural Alabama, and were young during the depression. Old SEARS catalogues were also used as toilet paper by many people who lived in those wonderful times. As were the phone books.
Ah the Eaton’s catalogue… Where one’s mom would order a red hockey sweater only to receive a dreaded blue one, much to a boy’s dismay…
Classic reference!
I was going to say, my mother ordered a Pontiac engine from the Eaton’s catalogue but they sent her a Chevy, and she didn’t want to offend Mr Eaton by returning it.
Up until the Eighties, Sears employees were paid salaries and were paid commissions on their sales and could afford a middle-class life. Try being middle class when you work in retail today. Of course, the powers at Sears decided to strip employees of commissions and eliminate catalog sales. Look where they are now, along with Circuit City, who adopted the same formula.
I love the 1930’s ad where the wife is asking her husband to stop driving like an asshole, and he responds by telling her she’s just being confused by the new engine. “It’s the new motor confusing your sweet little woman brain, my dear! Now shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you!”
*takes his usual 9:30am swig of bourbon*
Fun fact: When I was growing up my dad had a 1963 triumph spitfire with JC penny brand radial tires.
Engines? Sears would sell you a mail order kit to build a house!
They also sold entire cars on two separate occasions
And motorcycles
And Vespa scooters under their Allstate brand.
I think Foremost was a JC Penney in-house brand name applied to several different product lines such as bicycles. Fun fact: My younger brother pumped gas at a JC Penney gas station back in the day.
I once had the honor of helping to unload an early 1900s Schacht prototype with a Sears & Roebuck engine at our car club’s annual carshow. Lovely little vehicle.
“It’s actually kind of strange to think of Amazon selling high-performance crate engines. If I was going to drop close to $30,000 on a crate engine, I would probably want to order it from a specialist supplier that handles such items regularly.”
Really you are, hopefully. Always look at the “ships from” and “sold by” section of the buy box — for products like this you’re basically guaranteed to be buying it from a third party on Amazon. If they have their own website in addition to an Amazon storefront that’s often a better way to buy too.
Pep Boys used to keep a nice stock of reman engines. In the early 90’s I could walk in and buy a Chevy small block in a variety of configurations for ~$600.
So…. They’re not stocked in the store of course, but NAPA will sell you engines.
Yes, but on Amazon can I get a crate engine from legendary brands like Pukemark, AMZkungfu, or ZZYZIX?
I’ve heard good things about Pxwaxpy
Love their cotomer sevis!
I ordered one of those 632 big blocks from Amazon, but some damn porch pirate made off with it.
It looks to have been delivered to my place. It’s blocking my front door. PM me and we can arrange for you to come get it. If I don’t hear from you in 48 hours, I’m going to have to find something to install it in.
Old Sears execs will go cold in the ground knowing they could have made Sears what Amazon is today.
It’s one of the saddest stories in retail. Sears was my one stop shop for everything. All my clothes, furnishings, houseware, tools, power equipment, etc, all came from Sears. Until they merged with K-Mart.
Then one day I walked in to find K-Mart clothes and Chinese tools. I left and never set foot in a Sears again.
Yeah, they could have been Amazon.
Way back around the year 2000 I went to a Sears outlet in suburban Toronto.
Have you seen those temporary morgues in disaster areas, where they line up hundreds of victims in a hall or tent for loved ones to identify?
Those morgues have a more cheerful and uplifting ambiance than a Sears store.
On the upside, during their closeout at Steeles/Don Mills I got a whole bunch of appliances I actually needed for like 25 cents on the dollar. Rolled the dice knowing warranty might be an issue, but they have held up pretty well over 20 years.
I have an irrational allegiance towards Kenmore stuff, even knowing full well they are all made by other companies.
The death of SEARS and K Mart was planned and orchestrated by a hedge fund douche bag by the name of Eddie Lambert. A real total piece of shit.
Just my personal thought here, but would rather have had them survive, and Lambert dead instead. Look him up, a real turd.
Eddie Lampert. Spelled it wrong.
Yeah, show some respect and get it right!
yeah, and some of the most glaring proof is they shut down even profitable stores – even when they filed for Ch11, their own financial records showed that nearly half their locations had been turning an operating profit consistently, and they were the stores Lampert bought back through Transform SR Brands. But, no sooner was that transaction completed, then they began shutting down stores as rapidly as ever, the ones they had claimed were viable literally months earlier. He never had any intention of turning the company around, he just wanted a slower and more orderly liquidation.
And for everyone who says it was a real estate deal – yeah, good luck with that. Dingy multistory department stores that haven’t been maintained properly in decades and are physically attached to declining shopping malls, real prime properties that’s for sure. They spun off most of their real estate into an REIT called Seritage Growth Properties, Seritage was having so many issues leasing or selling the vacant stores that they started opening small format company owned Sears Hometown stores in corners of the vast empty buildings, until the Sears Hometown chain was liquidated in early 2023. More recently, they’ve reopened two full-line Sears department stores that closed years ago just to have something to fill the vacant buildings. Even ones that have been leased to Whole Foods or kitchen & bath showrooms are usually only partially occupied with the vacant floor space cordoned off with partition walls.
Thanks, I had forgotten a lot of this.
What I do remember is that his bullshit cost me (and thousands of others) a ton of money, as he would publicly say one thing and then do another. And despite being referred to the SEC for investigation, he walked away.
Didn’t realize there was an actual merger. When Sears was closing here, they moved all their appliances across the road to sell at Kmart. I thought it was just a typical small town thing. Then shortly after the Kmart closed. Our local department store now is a Dollar General.
Not just Sears. JC Pennys, Montgomery Wards, JC Whitney missed out too.
Industry captains
Killed by a Seattle nerd
Corporate hubris
At the time you could buy ANYTHING at Sears. In their stores you could buy insurance from Allstate, your investment portfolio managed by Dean Witter, Craftsman tools, Die Hard batteries, the Johnny Carson Collection of fine clothing…. I think I went too far with that one.
” Beat that, Walmart!”
Ahem…
You can order a complete crate engine from walmart.com
Behold: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crate-Engine-BBC-632-815HP-Dressed-Model/1944820034
Free shipping, delivered in 3 days.
(☉̃ₒ☉) I had no idea you could buy an engine from Walmart!
walmart and Home Depot have expanded their websites beyond what is in the stores to compete with Amazon. They are just acting as intermediaries.
That makes sense, they are trying to make a buck anyway they can!
This. Walmart doesn’t have anything to do with this sale other than being the website that redirects the sale to revautopart.com in this case.
Which is what Amazon is doing in a lot of cases too. These engines almost certainly don’t ship from an Amazon warehouse.
You’re not buying it from WalMart, you’re buying it from RevAutoPart.com. WalMart is just selling “store” space.
True, but did Sears or Monkey Wards actually have warehouses full of reconditioned Stuebaker engines, just waiting for someone to send in a check or money order?
I’d bet they did in the early days, but probably farmed it out sometime after the war.
Was that before or after people tied onions to their belts?
I think the onion-belt fad was in the ’30’s, it has a depression/dust bowl quality to it. You’d have to ask Abe.
I would, but he’s been yelling at a cloud for an hour.
But it comes with their brand of oil.
I remember looking through the Sears catalog for a remanufactured 454 for my dad’s ’82 K3500 work truck that chucked a piston through the block. I had many fond memories of pouring over the Sears catalog at Christmas time, both as a kid looking at toys and as a teenager looking at tools.
Admit it. Like the rest of us adolescents, you checked out the ladies undergarment pages pretty often for a while.
THOSE PAGES WERE STUCK TOGETHER WHEN THE CATALOG WAS DELIVERED!!!
You could say that, but your Mom knew better!
It was quite something when we discovered that the Consumer’s Distributing (Toronto reference) page labelled ‘personal care devices’, were all sex toys.
What a great article! It holds a lot of nostalgia for me having grown up in this era
(The very last part of the era anyway)
Perhaps you can do an article about the JC Whitney catalog. My father always bought stuff from them and so we had all of their catalogs in my childhood home and I would spends HOURS looking through them! they had some interesting items!
Torch has you covered:
https://www.theautopian.com/old-j-c-whitney-catalogs-are-full-of-so-many-bonkers-things-so-lets-look-at-some/
https://www.theautopian.com/the-old-jc-whitney-catalogs-volkswagen-section-still-manages-to-surprise-me/
https://www.theautopian.com/what-if-they-made-those-fake-rolls-royce-grilles-for-other-cars-like-porsches-and-teslas/
https://www.theautopian.com/this-odd-little-collapsable-trailer-seems-like-a-great-idea-thats-all-but-extinct/
Fun fact: JC Whitney catalogs are available on eBay.
Wow! I had no idea that these articles existed!
Thanks A. Barth for pointing this out and to Torch for writing them!
(I hereby withdraw my article suggestion) (‾◡◝ )
You’re very welcome – glad to help!
I actually bought a group of three early/mid 1990s catalogs after reading one of those articles. Around that time (IIRC) there was a hilarious ad for a fake mobile phone; I haven’t found it yet but that’s because I keep getting distracted by the other weird stuff they sold. 🙂
The old “Whitney Wormhole” as it were.
I remember that they sold a bobble head tiger that was for installation onto the package shelf of your car .
The main feature they were touting was that the eyes were illuminated and lit up when the brake pedal was applied!
Even as a child I thought ” Who the heck would want that?”
ヽ(͡◕ ͜ʖ ͡◕)ﾉ
I probably still got a couple JCW catalogs stashed away somewhere. Most of the stuff seemed like the “Wish” of automotive. It was entertaining to read, and imagine what the stuff might be like, since they only used monochrome hand sketches.
I remember this really crappy radio in there. “12 watts, 6 per channel!” “Flashing red LED lets thieves know that breaking in isn’t worth the effort!” My sister bought a different JCW radio and it was the cheapest garbage I’d ever seen. Even the pot shafts were flimsy plastic.
One good thing I bought was all the 304 stainless sections to build my own exhaust, since no local shop would make one for me. Spent about $300 total on the sections, pipe expander tool, and clamps. Got a complete 304 stainless muffler elsewhere. That was on my Chevy Celebrity which I’m still driving 20 years later, never having to redo the exhaust.
My brother bought one in 81 or so in Canada, 318 that went into his Fargo van- I remember dragging the pallet from the driveway to the front of the garage by hand and then finding out our rented engine crane wasn’t long enough to reach
This reminds me of a story my father in law told me about his experience with Sears. Years back they used to provide auto services and one of the specials was a muffler with a lifetime warranty. I think he said he paid about $13 or $14 (back in the 80s) for this. Evidently, they didn’t use aluminum or stainless steel in them, because they’d rust out like clockwork every 9-18 months up here in the great white North. He said he’d gotten about 6 mufflers out of them before they just offered to buy out his warranty for what he originally paid. He was planning on selling the car soon anyway, so he said sure and got his $13 dollars back. Free mufflers. Damn.
I remember their Diehard batteries had a full replacement warranty for a while, then they went pro-rated like Costco has
I stopped buying DieHard batteries when they went to pro-rated warranty periods.
My dad had a similar experience with a lifetime battery replacement program on his classic car and took advantage of the program for decades (I think it was Sears but it may have actually been JCPenney) — the most recent time being just a few years ago putting a new battery in just before he put the car up for sale. It was a bit of a faff to get it done since Sears (or Penney’s) sold that element of the business off to another company, but ultimately it got done. Quite possibly the best investment he ever made.
My dad’s significant other had a Ford Probe that had a similar “lifetime exhaust” warranty backed by the dealer purchased with the car. The story goes that every two years the exhaust would rot away and off to the dealer it went for a new one. The dealer would then “lose” the certificate and need a stern reminder to return it. That car got five or six complete exhaust systems, if I recall. Being a Mazda parts probably got expensive!
I worked with a guy who had shocks from Sears that had a lifetime warranty installed on his ’69 Olds Cutlass. He was still getting free replacements in 1990.
I thought rotting out every 9-18 months is just what mufflers do in the great white north? Do other mufflers hold up better?
Never seen a stock style stainless muffler, normally just aluminized steel like the rest of the exhaust.
Most cars have factory stainless steel exhaust systems now. The welds rust but the pipes only surface rust. My car that has lived 12 years daily driven up here in tin worm land still has the factory stainless exhaust.
I think you’re thinking of aluminized steel exhaust pipe.
Stainless does not surface rust or turn brown. It can corrode, but it’s usually more of a white or gray tarnish, not rust. Stainless has to be welded with stainless filler material which has exactly the same properties as the rest of the exhaust, so the welds will not corrode more or less than the rest of the exhaust.
Aluminized exhaust tubing is mild steel pipe plated with aluminum. You weld it with mild steel filler, but the welds are not plated with aluminum so the welds rust. The aluminum plating makes it much more corrosion resistant but you can still get surface rust. This is the only kind of exhaust I have heard of from the factory on regular(non-Pagani) cars.
Nope, they’re definitely referring to stainless. 409 stainless is a grade designed for automotive exhaust to be less expensive than 304, 316 or other common grades, and it develops a surface rust but doesn’t rapidly corrode through like mild steel.
That’s exactly my exhaust system. I can’t think of the last time I or anyone else has had to replace an exhaust from corrosion. Damage, yes.
Alright, makes sense. I didn’t know they had a special stainless for exhausts or that it was used on most new cars.
In my climate, I also can’t think of the last time I or anyone else has had to replace an exhaust from corrosion, including exhausts as much as 50 years old. Aluminized pipe is more than good enough.
Did you know that SEARS also sold complete houses at one time?
Of course it had to be assembled by the purchaser.
They were quite popular at the time.
In fact there is one just down the road from me.
Yes, and they were very well-built and used top quality materials, and attractive designs with thoughtful built-in features. Also, Montgomery Ward did houses, too, but Sears kind of made them an also-ran in that area
And the SEARS house near me looks better than the crap they build today.
I had a boss who lived in a Sears Craftsman house from like 1921. When he bought the house it came with the sales brochure and the order list for the materials from Sears. Pretty neat!
I might have owned a 1927 Sears house back in the 90s, in Cincinnati. I was never quite sure. I saw some Sears designs that were quite similar but never exactly the same.
Sears also sold heroin.
There were a number of kit house builders at the time, and a lot of them tended to crib designs from Sears, since they were kind of the market leader. One way to tell, if you don’t have original paperwork, is to look for the chalk and pencil markings on the framing, denoting the model number of the house and the location of that timber, usually still visible in attic and basement areas
99 Percent Invisible did a nice story on kit homes. Sears sold dozens of home designs, and branched out into brick schoolhouses.
I read about that! So fascinating.
Well of course! If they sold Bayer Aspirin, why wouldn’t they also sell Bayer Heroin? I’m told it was a dandy cough suppressant.
Yup. I might live in one. It’s definitely a kit house, as are most of the ones in my neighborhood. But it’s unclear whether or not it’s a bonafide “Craftsman” (Sears (yes that’s where the hand tool name comes from)) house. Kit homes were available from several retailers back then. Sears is just the most famous one.
So I had to drive to town today and passed the house. I think there are actually three of them in a row though. One is a 2 story which I think was actually offered by SEARS.
Bing their “Magnolia” model – absolutely gorgeous. Also, by the late 1930s, they had started working a few modernist designs into the catalog, too, like the “Bryant” model in the International style
Thanks! So I just looked up the Magnolia. The Castleton is identical to the house my wife grew up in. That kind of freaked me out.
It is without a doubt the same house. But now that I think about it our small town is probably full of SEARS houses.
So sad to see them disappear 🙁
Sears WAS Amazon. All they had to do was take e-commerce seriously.
Walmart DOES take it seriously.
In the EV era, maybe Amazon and Walmart (and even eBay, too) can start selling crate electric motors and batteries and shit LOL
The fall of Sears will be taught in business classes for decades to come. Absolute vulture capitalism.
Their spinoffs are doing quite fine though (Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Allstate Insurance, Discover, etc.)
Come to think of it it’s like Yahoo. Their stake in Alibaba was worth more than its weight in heroin, whereas Yahoo itself was… LOL.
Sears even started doing e-commerce in the ’80s, as the retail component of the Prodigy online service launched in 1984. However, relatively few people had home computers, even fewer signed up for online access, and even fewer of those were comfortable shopping that way, so it lost a ton of money and Sears ultimately pulled out of the venture.
Then, they shut down their mail order catalog and closed all their regional fulfillment centers in the early 1990s, right on the cusp of online shopping taking off in a mainstream manner, had they held on for just a few more years, they could have made the pivot from print to digital quite smoothly, as they already had the physical infrastructure and supply chain stuff in place