Country Connections by James and Ellen Perry
Sitting on the porch this mid-October afternoon the leaves turning to their glorious fall colors, the afternoon sun throwing dark shadows from the hickories, oaks, black gums and dogwoods in my yard brings back memories of this time of the year in the early 1950s.
The fall and winter wish book had arrived a few days earlier from Sears and Roebuck. We all took turns slowly looking through the wish book making mental notes as to what we would tell our mother and dad as to what we wanted to order for our winter clothing and footwear.
Our father would take the four of us boys over to Bill Graves’ store at Sharps Chapel in early October for our annual pair of Stone Mountain Brogan Shoes for our work footwear. We only got one pair of work shoes per year. As we boys got into the upper years at Rose Hill Grammar School, we were allowed to get a pair of boots or shoes with our winter coat and flannel shirts ordered from the wish book. It was a family experience every October.
Up through the 1950s, Sears and Roebuck was the largest retailer in the United States. They sold everything from horse collars to schoolhouses. Sears was a microcosm of what was sold in the United States.
You could place your order in the enclosed order form, total the price, add taxes, place in an envelope with a check and mail it. Two to three weeks later your order would come.
When the fall order came it was an exciting time in the family. You would check your new boots to make sure the size was right, also your flannel shirts and coat for the current size.
You had to wear your jeans bought earlier from either Sears and Roebuck or J.C. Penney’s for the start of school. Us boys wanted our parents to buy our jeans from J.C. Penney’s because with two pair of jeans you got a free 1-blade Barlow knife.
During our school every farm boy carried a knife to school as a tool. No boy ever in high school would threaten or use a knife to cut another person. It was looked upon as cowardice.
Sears and Roebuck started business in 1886 selling watches. Richard Sears originated the company and one year later brought Alvah Roebuck in as a partner.
In 1895 Julius Rosenwald joined and was instrumental in growing the Sears and Roebuck mail order business. Sears and Roebuck started selling by mail order everything from appliances to clothing.
Their slogan was, “Cheapest Supply House on Earth.” In 1908 Sears and Roebuck sold complete house kits from $744 to $5,972. Sears sold nearly 7,500 house kits during Julius Rosenwald’s time as president of Sears and Roebuck.
He furnished seed money for the Rosenwald schools which totaled over 5,000 school buildings built in the United States for the African American communities as well as some in the rural poor white counties of the south.
In 1908 Sears and Roebuck offered an 11,000 square foot brick school building kit in their catalogue for $11,000 or $1.00 per square foot. In the 1932 catalogue Sears and Roebuck offered school furniture such as desks, globes, chairs, bookcases, maps, water coolers and school paints.
Sears went into the retail automobile business in the 1952-1953 catalogues by offering a car very similar to the Henry J. The car offered by Sears in the catalogue was made by the same company that made the Henry J.
That company was Kaiser, which built some very dependable cars for years before 1952 and into the late 1950s. The car offered by Sears was called the Allstate and was made in the same assembly line as the Henry Js but had quite a few improvements and to the eye was much more appealing. The Allstate sold from the catalogue for under $1,200.
Some of the Sears’ brand names and product lines developed over the years included: Die-Hard Batteries, Craftsman hand tools, Guardsman tires, J.C. Higgins bicycles, long guns, Elgin boat motors and boats, David Bradley tractors, saws, Coldspot refrigerators, freezers, Kenmore appliances and Allstate insurance.
Most of these well-known brand names of Sears and Roebuck are now just a memory, but a few live on in different retail chains. The main named private brand being sold today is Craftsman Tools which every mechanic knows and will have a collection of in his toolbox. They are being sold today by these businesses: Sears (remaining few stores), Lowes, Ace Hardware, NAPA Auto Parts and Amazon.
Today Sears and Roebuck and their wish book are just a phantom memory of days gone by. There was so much enjoyment my family and myself had shopping at Sears stores. You could buy almost anything for your family and home at Sears. Even have your car repaired, tuned up, brakes, oil change and new tires installed while you shopped for anything from new clothes (not the cheap stuff found at Wally-World), to appliances, garden tillers, hand tools, the latest records and record players. If you needed Allstate Insurance or financing, it was in one building.
Sears started to collapse after the Kmart and Sears joined together. This was a major dumb or intentional venture to cause the collapse of Sears and Roebuck. Only memories remain today of Sears and Roebuck of yesterday. At least my generation has memories like Hank Williams sang in his recording of “Beyond the Sunset.” Memory is one gift of God that death cannot destroy.
Although Sears and Roebuck is practically dead, we still have our memories.