Anyone else miss Sears?

[Accelo]

Sears used to have profit sharing with the employees. One could work there receive a retirement and some benefit from the stock price, typically beating inflation.
The corporate raiders took care of that.

[Palf70Step]

Can't say that I miss Sears, but it was a choice. Bout only thing I got there was Tools or appliances. Things I don't really need to buy on a regular basis. I was never pleased with any Sears auto center. To big a ripoff like the Firestone/Good Year chain theft centers.

[GOPAPA]

I bought a JC Higgins 22 rifle there in the early 60ies ,still got it,, lever actiion

[Wootdog]

I miss all of those places to shop. Last major purchase I got at Sears was my 80 inch Sharp Color TV and stand. That was in 2010 or 2011. The day the video Avatar came out. i still have a lot of Sears tools.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by Wootdog

I miss all of those places to shop. Last major purchase I got at Sears was my 80 inch Sharp Color TV and stand. That was in 2010 or 2011.

Man, an 80" TV must have been super-expensive back then! I paid $1500 for a higher end Sony 40" back in 2009. That sucker still works fine. But it's not a smart TV, so we use it with a Roku streaming stick in our guest room.

Wish I could still say the same for our 65" Samsung which is just past its 2-year warranty. I just had the the eARC port go bad.

[Ironhorse]

A LOT of my tools, wrenches, screwdrivers, etc were bought from the local Sears store and at swap meets, garage sales, auctions. Still have my Sear inductive timing light and dwell meter purchased years ago. Sears was great for home use tools for all around needs and a good value. Lot of our appliances were Sears/Kenmore thru the years. The local store closed quite a few years ago. Always had good luck with their batteries lasting well. Locally we also had a Gambles Hardware, Western Auto, OTASCO (Oklahoma Tire and Supply Co.), Radio Shack. All gone now and Wally World is pathetic to try and find decent tools/hardware, plumbing, electrical, etc. Have to make a trip to the big city to get decent quality now days.

[Rich84]

When I got hired as an apprentice carpenter I went to Sears and got my first credit card. I bought my first tool box, pouch, snips, linesmans pliers, awl and tape measure. I still have all of them. I was working for a company installing acoustic ceilings in large commercial projects. Used to wear out tape measures like crazy cutting ceiling tile. Went through many pairs of snips as well. That was 1984.

[A1971Blazer]

We had a Sears about 45 minutes away when I was a kid. My parents bought everything there. I suppose it was because they offered credit?
Making a trip to Sears was like a trip to an amusement park for us.
It was two stories and at the bottom of the escalator they had a candy stand with all kinds of candy and hot roasted nuts.
I can still remember the aroma that filled the air. There's no way you could pass it by without buying some hot roasted cashews!
We would sit on the motorcycles and pretend we owned one. I think they were made by Galera?
So many great memories of "going to Sears"

[1slo64]

Originally Posted by Sheepdip

My local Ace Hardware carries the Craftsman Tool line and I was told by an employee they honor the "Lifetime Warranty"
I've never had to take a Craftsman Tool back....I usually lose it and have to replace it.

I tested the warranty at Lowes last year and it is true. I got them to replace my 1/4 and 3/8 ratchets, no questions asked.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by A1971Blazer

W
Making a trip to Sears was like a trip to an amusement park for us.
It was two stories and at the bottom of the escalator they had a candy stand with all kinds of candy and hot roasted nuts.
I can still remember the aroma that filled the air. There's no way you could pass it by without buying some hot roasted cashews!

My dad would always give me 10 cents for the popcorn.

As for financing purchases, our first store credit account after getting married was called Sears Revolving Charge. It wasn't a card, just an account that we could use for large purchases, like a washer and dryer. Even put some tires and mag wheels for our van on that account!

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by MikeB

We shopped at the Fort Worth Store when I was a kid. My mom and dad liked it better than Sears. It also had an auto service center. Yes, many of the mechanics were top-notch.

Heck, you could even find good mechanics working at gas stations back then. I remember getting a 4-wheel brake job at one. Also, a guy literally working under a shade tree (because his single shop bay had a car in it) showed me how to set the points and ignition timing on my 283, after I had changed intake manifold and carb. I think he charged me around $2 labor.

"Monkey Ward" had a nice store in Harrison, Arkansas and it was busy. They were "the" tire store. The tires were mounted under an open shed out back in the alley. There was usually a line waiting, especially on Saturday.

[davischevy]

Originally Posted by yuccales

Wards and Sears sold everything back in the day. Used to get tires at Wards. My Ted Williams Model 100 was a big purchase for me at Sears. And plinking ammo. I miss Sears and Wards, Western Auto, Coast to Coast. Different times nowadays.

And Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company (Otasco)

[davischevy]

Sears sold Michelin tires under their brand. I ran them on my 72 Cheyenne for years. We bought a lot of goods from sears over the years.

I read somewhere that in the 1960's Sears had the same market share that Amazon has now.

[yuccales]

Originally Posted by geezer#99

We don’t have the store anymore but we still have the Sears parking lot. A weekly Wednesday car meet started before the store closed. It’s gotten larger every year.
It’s in Nanaimo BC on Vancouver Island.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vihr/a...th/53955371964

Beautiful cars there! Great pics!

[70STOVEBOLT]

I took a 1/4 drive Craftsman ratchet back for warranty one time, and the store was out of them on the shelf, so a salesman took it and said he could rebuild it. 10 minutes later he brought it back to me, good as new. The only other time I took a Craftsman tool back for warranty was a large regular screw driver that I had used as a pry bar and broke the end off of it. They replaced it, no questions asked. I have had some of my Craftsman tools for over 30 years.

A friend found a Craftsman 12" adjustable wrench on the side of the road, all rusted and froze up. He took it to Sears and they replaced it, no questions asked.

We had a Gambles department store back in the day, bought my first TV as a married man there, a Magnavox console 25 incher. Ah, the good old days.

[GOPAPA]

Some great stories about Sears here,,,, enjoyed them all ,, I have one about me going to work at a computer wafer board plant in Portland Oregon some years back ,, We were building clean rooms and I coudnt use my own tools ,,NO Rust Allowed ,,,so had to go and buy brand new ones ,, still got them and they look like new silver dollars.. 5/16 th to 7/8 and 8mm to 22 mm ..

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by GOPAPA

Some great stories about Sears here,,,, enjoyed them all ,, I have one about me going to work at a computer wafer board plant in Portland Oregon some years back ,, We were building clean rooms and I coudnt use my own tools ,,NO Rust Allowed ,,,so had to go and buy brand new ones ,, still got them and they look like new silver dollars.. 5/16 th to 7/8 and 8mm to 22 mm ..

Some of my mechanic tools are starting to rust. They used to have oil and grease on them from being used. Now, I don't use them enough to keep them that way, and my sons leave them (especially Channel-Locks and wire cutters) out in the weather when they are done using them.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

...my sons leave them (especially Channel-Locks and wire cutters) out in the weather when they are done using them.(

You might want to tell them you're going to lock your tool boxes, or possibly put the tools where the sun don't shine if they don't take care of them!

[GOPAPA]

Sears made a car called the auto buggy and I knew a guy many years ago that had one and diplayed it in the sears store in Longview Washington not far from where I lived in Oregon just across the Columbia River '
this is a photo of one like the one I seen,,, it had a chain drive and a stick for steering

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by MikeB

You might want to tell them you're going to lock your tool boxes, or possibly put the tools where the sun don't shine if they don't take care of them!

Those big Channel-Locks...

[DeadheadNM]

I got a new Sears vacuum gauge this weekend.

[GOPAPA]

Seen this for sale in the Boise Idaho area for $15 they say it is old but works great,, I never seen one before



Sears chimes Reader

[rick1956]

I certainly don't miss Sears as it was in it final iteration, but the Sears of the 60's and 70's were great places. I can still remember the blast of caramel corn that assaulted the senses when we walked into the giant Seattle store (now Starbucks Center).

[Getter-Done]

I was over at the homestead today.

I took this picture for another thread.

Then I reailize after all my younger years of using this machine that I had no idea it came from Sears and Roebuck.

The picture belongs in this thread.

[MikeB]

Blasts from the past.