SFR Sears, Roebuck and Co

Sorta fishing-related
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Was the Amazon of its day.

I grew up in Seattle and my Dad worked there as I was growing up, we were frequent visitors to the big store on 1st & Lander.

Things I remember.....the wish book, a Christmas sales book that came out probably in September to get the kids all wound up.

The fishing & hunting section, between the one at Sears, Warshalls, Eddie Bauer & Ben Paris my Dad & l haunted them all. Then there was all the funky old Army surplus shops....

The discount basement at Sears was a wonderland, always cool stuff to be found at a marked down rate. My Dad actually found a sweet German Voigtländer compact rangefinder down there & a mini bike for me.

Funny story, as Dad was well know around the store, he had contacts all over & they would tell him about certain items heading down to the basement to be cherry picked. Kinda like insider trading 😆


Any old timers remember it?
 
I bought my first real mattress from the Surplus / Returns department in the basement of the old Sears on Lander. Would've been in around 1992. It was for a homemade bed I built for my first place.

As I kid I used to pore over the "Fun-Karts" section of the Sears catalog, daydreaming about a cool go-kart and all the places I'd go on it.
 
Had several family members over several generations work for Sears. Uncle Fred was a buyer and went to Boeing instead of taking a transfer at the end. Toughskins, bikes and Kenmore everything. House was full of "damaged" appliances growing up that seemingly never died. But if there was an issue the service guys were right there. The Sears catalogs were great.
 
Never got into the Toughskins, always wore the Levi 501. Think I got a few pairs of those high speed Keds sneakers at Sears thou...
 

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I rented an old house that came from Sears.
That was almost 50 years ago, now the land is a car dealership.....if that counts.
 
Craftsman tools were prized possessions that lasted back in the day. My fav mail order wish book was Herters. I still have a couple knives, some hooks, a tying vise & some reloading stuff (plus 1 old catalog). I wish I would have hung on to my LH Herters Sitka Magnum recurve bow; it was a beauty!
 
As a kid I remember getting popcorn in the red/white striped carton next to the men’s clothing….maybe I wiped my buttery fingers on a few suits. I also liked looking at the livestock like baby chicks. As a teenager I bought rebuilt three speed transmissions for my ‘51 Chev PU! So many cool memories!
 
I used to visit the Eddie Bauer store in Seattle in the early 70s. The gun department was full of Browning Superposed and other fine firearms that cost more than a years tuition at the UW.
 
Back in the day, Ted Williams & Sir Edmund Hillary were spokespersons for Sears…My stepdad used to sell guitars and amps to both Sears & Montgomery Ward under the Silvertone name…
 
When I was a commercial carpenter we swore by Craftsman 30’ tape measures……definitely went through quite a few for the price of one! At ten years old, my dad bought me a Sears and Roebucks pump the barrel BB gun….I still have it and it still shoots well. All real wood stock, the good ol days!
 
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Jim F. said:
Craftsman tools were prized possessions that lasted back in the day. My fav mail order wish book was Herters. I still have a couple knives, some hooks, a tying vise & some reloading stuff (plus 1 old catalog). I wish I would have hung on to my LH Herters Sitka Magnum recurve bow; it was a beauty!
Click to expand...

That’s what I remember about Sears. Craftsman tools in my dad’s shed (usually secondhand) and my grandfathers garage. I still have a few in my garage as well like my chainsaw.

Overpriced or throwaway crap seems to be the two options today. Making quality, durable stuff at a reasonable price is not a business model that works in 2026 unfortunately.
 
True story......actually two about Sears.

I bought "lifetime" shocks from Sears and 10 years later I needed them replaced under warranty. Sears initially refused to do it, since "nobody keeps a truck for 10 years".

My wife's mother would buy baby clothes in the mid-west and ship them to us. My wife went to exchange the clothes in Wenatchee and had the receipt. The baby clothes were on-sale in Wenatchee and Sears said the exchange would only be valid for the sale price, not the price her mother paid.

My wife asked for a pair of scissors and slowly cut the Sears credit card in small pieces and then told Sears where they could stick it.

Over a year later I was looking at a credit report and it showed an active Sears credit card. I contacted them and related the story and received an "official" letter from Sears.

It said "cutting your Sears credit card into small pieces and then telling us that was so we could stick it where the sun don't shine, does not mean that you wanted to cancel our credit card".

I think Sears had AI in 1989.
 
I grew up in Burien and there was a 'catalog' store on the main street (152nd). My parents ordered a lot of items through that store, as did I.

Sears had great products and stood behind them. Tools were fantastic!.

Their catalogs were true eye candy but ranked 2nd to the Playboy magazines back in the day.

I can remember going to the Renton store. It was like a day long journey because it was before freeways and on back roads.

My first shotgun was from them . A 12 guage with 36 inch, full choke barrel. We called it the 'goose ripper' due to its shot pattern , When everyone stopped shooting, it was my turn. It brought down a lotta birds.
 
Loved Sears as a kid. Still have some of dads tools from them.
We also went to Tubby and Chubby’s on Rainier which had a lot of great stuff for us fat kids.
 
They used to make the best batteries the diehard and the best tools craftsmen. As a kid when parents shopped the store for a quarter we got a bag full of hot cashews...awesome!
 
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