Medford mail tribune., March 02, 1961, Image 3

MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD. ORE.
THURSDAY. MARCH 2, 1961
Sears, Roebuck and Company Celebrating Diamond Jubilee
Chicni'n llfPIl Tt n11 4....i,..j - -u: . .-i i
-hlcauo - (UPD It all starteri
with nothing more than a
mistaken shipment of watch
es, but in 75 years Sears, Roe
buck & Co. has grown to the
world's largest general mer
chandising firm.
The story of Sears, whose
mail order catalogues have
been household fixtures in
many homes for three - quar
ters of a century, parallels to
a large extent the retail and
social history of the United
States.
When Richard W. Sears was
working as a railroad station
agent in Redwood, Minn., the
America of 1886 had only 38
states. About 65 per cent of
the 58 million population
lived in rural areas. The
yearly national income was
$10 billion, compared with an
estimated $418 billion last
year.
. The company was born al
most by accident. A jeweler
in Redwood refused to accept
a shipment of watches from a
Chicago jewelry firm. The
enterprising Sears, then 23,
bought the watches for a re
duced price. He sold them -by
mail - to agents up and
down the line at handsome
profits. He ordered more.
Within a few months, Sears
was in business for himself as
the R. W. Sears Watch Co.,
Minneapolis. The mail order
trade grew so rapidly that he
moved to Chicago the follow
ing year.
Hires Farmboy
There he hired an Indiana
farmboy, Alvah C. Roebuck,
to repair watches. Roebuck
had worked as a watchmaker
in Hammond, Ind., for $3.50 a
week and room and board.
. Thus began one of the most
famous business associations
in the world. The firm became
Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 1893.
Sears' "wish books" quickly
gained acceptance among
rural families, who before
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QXZOE
that time had bought most of
their needs in local general
stores.
While the earliest cata
logues featured only watches,
Missile Launch
Silos Contracted
Los Angeles-IUPD-Two Los
Angeles firms have received a
$61.7 million contract to begin
work immediately on the na
tion's first Minuteman missile
launch silos at Malmstrom
Air Force Base, Mont.
Award of the contract to
the George A. Fuller Co. and
Del E. Webb Co., lowest of
six bidders, was announced
Tuesday by the Army Corps
of Engineer.
Bids on the project, esti
mated to be about 150 under
ground launchers, were open
ed Dec. 13 but those were re
fused because they ran higher
than the government was will
ing to pay.
A spokesman for the en
gineers said construction of
the launchers for the three
stage solid fuel missile would
begin immediately. The first
Minuteman is due to become
war-ready by 1962.
New York-IUPD-Today's well
heeled American teenagers
are spending $10.5 billion an
nually on goods and services,
according to a marketing re
search report.
the firm by 1895 turned out
a 507-page book offering such
items as shoes, suits, women's
garments, wagons, fishing
tackle, stoves, furniture, sad
dles, buggies and dishes.
It sold "heavyweight, nice
soft finish, black" wool che
viot coats for $4.98, men's
suits for $9.95, a "Stradivarius
model violin" for $6.10 and
an $8 brass banquet lamp for
$2.30."
Another early book offered
a fully equipped Sears "motor
buggy" for $395 with "noth
ing to buy but gasoline" and
capable of "all speeds from 1
to 25 miles per hour."
At the height of a patent
medicine fad, the 1911 catalog
listed blood purifiers, liver
and kidney remedies and
"pink pills for pale people."
The firm built one plant
after another around the coun
try to handle its steadily ris
ing sales. But not all orders
were filled with the greatest
efficiency. One customer
wrote:
"For heaven's sake, quit
sending me sewing machines.
Every time I go to the station
I find another one there. You
have shipped me five al
ready." Prime Roles '
While Sears had a flair for
selling, advertising and writ
ing copy for the catalogue,
two other personalities played
a prime role in making the
firm the $4 - billion -a -year
giant it is today.
A Chicago clothing manu
facturer, Julius Rosenwald,
reorganized the company to
operate on an economical and
efficient basis. Rosenwald
bought into the company in
1895 and became its president
in 1908.
Sears entered the rWail
business in 1925. Gen. Robert
E. Wood, then a vice president
of the company and former
quarter master general in
World War I, opened an ex
perimental retail store in a
corner of the Chicago mail
order house.
It was an immediate suc
cess. Seven more stores were
opened before the end of the
year, and 27 were in oper
ation by 1928. By 1933, vol
ume of the retail end of the
business exceeded the mail
order operations.
Today, 75 per cent of the
company's $4 billion in sales
comes from retail store sales.
At the end of 1959, the com
pany had 11 mail order plants,
734 retail stores and 913 cata
logue outlets in the United
Stntes, 49 stores and eight
sales offices in Latin America,
and four mail order facilities,
37 retail outlets and 319 cata
logue sales offices in Canada.
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Store Hour.: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
4 OPEN MONDAYS UHTIL 9 P.M.
FORMERLY 17.95
Now 1188 Modcl
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