Sears Was the Amazon.com of the 20th Century-- Part 2: Those Christmas Wish Books

Sears dubbed its 1933 Christmas catalog a "Wish Book" and extended the basic catalog to 700 pages.  President Roosevelt reportedly said he'd like to give every Soviet citizen a Sears catalog as it was an encyclopedia of the American Dream.

I can sure remember going through the Sears and Montgomery Ward's Christmas catalogs and salivating over the toys.  Especially any of the toy soldier sets, especially he Blue and the Gray, Alamo and Fort Apache ones.

Sears role today is fast fading.  Sales are plummeting, stores are closing and there is a serious doubt that it can continue.  Today's flourishing internet business (Amazon and others) is a 21st century update on sears' 20th century mail-order model.

On the West Side of Chicago at huge Homan Avenue complex, the end came on March 2, 1987, on the workers' lunch break when 1,800 employees were told that the distribution center was closing because the facility was "worn out."

They might as well pull the plug and let Lambert make his billions off the bones of the once-great Sears.

So Sad.  --Cooter