Sears, Roebuck Catalog
The Sears, Roebuck catalog was the mail-order catalog of Sears, Roebuck and Company, which began with watches in 1888 and grew into one of the best-known general merchandise catalogs in the US before Sears ended it in 1993.
What happened and why it matters
The Sears catalog brought mail-order retail to rural America at a scale that required some of the first large order fulfillment operations, forerunners of today's fulfillment centers. Starting with watches, it grew within a few years to hundreds of pages offering clothing, sewing machines, bicycles, and tools. Sears' huge Chicago mail-order complex processed orders on a timed schedule that kept each department moving. Rural Free Delivery and Parcel Post later let the catalog reach farm households directly. Sears announced in January 1993 that it would end the general catalog, shortly before online retail took over the same role.
People
Related events
Sources
- Sears britannica.com
- Sears en.wikipedia.org
- Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex en.wikipedia.org