User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 3:11:13 AM EDT
[#1]
Quote HistoryIt'd use lots of bandwith but no way to download by .PDF? Didn't see that option. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 3:23:44 AM EDT
[#2]
If you look at the prices in those books, you can buy similar items for about the same price now.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 3:47:38 AM EDT
[#3]
45 years ago my wish book was called Shotgun News.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 3:54:11 AM EDT
[#4]
I’m not old lol
Used to live the big toys r us Christmas book |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 4:14:13 AM EDT
[#5]
Probably the most interesting thing to consider when you look at that content is that the vast majority of products were/was made in the US. Japan being in second place.
And the stuff was well made. Far cry from the crap we get from Amazon. Also consider the Wish Book was about 1/3 or a 1/4 the size of the Big Book. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 4:26:35 AM EDT
[#6]
My wife and I were just talking about them yesterday. We thought it was more fun than actually getting presents, because you got to dream of getting all that stuff.
Yep we both grew up really poor, and didn't get much. We both loved those catalogs, and the wife's mother worked and retired from Sears. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 4:38:49 AM EDT
[#7]
Yes.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 6:04:03 AM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Telescopes, microscopes, chemistry sets, all kinds of sports stuff, bicycles, roller skates, radios, it was geared just towards kids. And women's underwear because...young men. Yes the Christmas catalog was great. Spent many, many hours pouring over it every year, looking at all the cool things I wasn't going to get. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 6:13:47 AM EDT
[#9]
I sure do.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 6:20:25 AM EDT
[#10]
Oh, yes...
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 6:29:36 AM EDT
[#11]
I definitely remember. Good times.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 7:05:21 AM EDT
[#12]
I was looking at some of the catalogs reminiscing about the things i had gotten for Christmas and i realized whats wrong with retail today.
Back then every store had it own line of merchandise completely different from other stores. Today there is no excitement in shopping its all China. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 7:07:31 AM EDT
[#13]
I saved the 1993 catalog and still have it. Sears catalogs were a think of my childhood in the 1960's, especially the women's underwear/ lingerie section. It was those moments that I understood that I wasn't gay.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 7:08:49 AM EDT
[#14]
If we wanted Santa to bring something we had to write it on our Christmas list… along with the wishbook page number, item number and cost!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 7:14:38 AM EDT
[#15]
Just the effort to put the Wish Book together must have been impressive.....I bet the mailman hated when they came out.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 7:39:32 AM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We had a Sears store where you could go order stuff out of the catalog have it delivered to the store they'd let you know when it was in...you go pick it up and pay for it. We also had a Montgomery Wards catalog center that carried no merchandise just there for ordering from their catalog...local Penny's store also had a catalog center in it. Same here. You could add McAlpins and Hills to that selection of stores too. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 7:41:39 AM EDT
[#17]
Sure,I remember..........there was another big catalog store,based in Chicago I think,....Alden's ???
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 7:50:26 AM EDT
[#18]
I’m 52 and remember it well. I also remember checking out the women’s undergarment section of the regular catalogs. Those were the catalyst that fueled my desire to locate discarded nudie magazines at local landfill as a young boy.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 8:00:43 AM EDT
[#19]
The happiest times of my young life we’re arrival of the Wish Book and the JCPENNEY Christmas catalog.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 8:51:25 AM EDT
[#20]
My excitement of wishing for the toys in the catalog waned after a few years when I found I'd never have any of that stuff. My mother ignored our requests and we instead got underwear and other necessities. I can still picture a lever action bb gun with hex barrel that I really wanted. Maybe if I save my $0.35 week allowance for a year I could buy one.....
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 9:06:35 AM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: OMG! It was falling apart by Thanksgiving. We kids fought over it making/remaking our Christmas lists dozens of times, A great memory. Same at my house!!! |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 9:16:37 AM EDT
[#22]
Fondly.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 9:18:58 AM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just think - they had most of the infrastructure in place to become what Amazon is now. In addition to printing the catalog, they could have had it online in the early 90s - click, buy, ship... They already had distribution centers in many major cities, plus the stores themselves. All but vanished now.  SEARS sh*tting the bed still makes me sad. It was by far my favorite store. It had everything. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 9:19:03 AM EDT
[#24]
Quoted: We had a Sears store where you could go order stuff out of the catalog have it delivered to the store they'd let you know when it was in...you go pick it up and pay for it. "This is a message from Sears. Your order is in." Quoted: Just think - they had most of the infrastructure in place to become what Amazon is now. In addition to printing the catalog, they could have had it online in the early 90s - click, buy, ship... They already had distribution centers in many major cities, plus the stores themselves. All but vanished now.  The Decline of Sears...What Happened? |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 9:24:22 AM EDT
[#25]
I have a recurring dream about them. I go to the store and it’s tons of bargain bins filled with different year’s books and some other stuff that’s open box. The stores are completely trashed and no one is ever in the aisle I’m in but there’s lots of random people in the store. It’s always very dark and what’s left on the shelves is always ugly bedding. I usually wake up when I find the three ring binder with laminated pages version of the wish book.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 9:27:29 AM EDT
[#26]
Loved it as a kid. I would spend hours scouring it for the best stuff i wanted for Christmas.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 10:24:30 AM EDT
[#27]
I remember looking through a couple of them as a kid before they were discontinued.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:16:01 AM EDT
[#28]
I remember , also loved going to Sears .
Where else could you buy popcorn and walk around eating it . I would search the tool section and maybe one day I would have my own tool box . |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:21:09 AM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just think - they had most of the infrastructure in place to become what Amazon is now. In addition to printing the catalog, they could have had it online in the early 90s - click, buy, ship... They already had distribution centers in many major cities, plus the stores themselves. All but vanished now. I was thinking this same thing when I saw this thread. Sears was the Amazon of the <90's. This is a case study on how sitting on your ass and not having true visionary leadership can collapse a giant, and how the opposite can build an empire from nothing. Would be a cool documentary. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:25:53 AM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I had that Sears Wish Book for toys and a US Calvary magazine from which I always wanted knives, camping equipment, and random military surplus. They had cool patches and everything. I spent a lot of money in their store right across from Ft Campbell's main gate. Those were shinin' days.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:38:34 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I was thinking this same thing when I saw this thread. Sears was the Amazon of the <90's. This is a case study on how sitting on your ass and not having true visionary leadership can collapse a giant, and how the opposite can build an empire from nothing. Would be a cool documentary. A lot of the blame rests with those damn Ivy League MBAs. Plenty of book learning, no common sense. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:49:14 AM EDT
[#32]
From ‘81, a good year.
  |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:50:33 AM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: We had a Sears store where you could go order stuff out of the catalog have it delivered to the store they'd let you know when it was in...you go pick it up and pay for it. We also had a Montgomery Wards catalog center that carried no merchandise just there for ordering from their catalog...local Penny's store also had a catalog center in it. That was due to COVID 71 |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:54:06 AM EDT
[#34]
I have two from the 70’s, and two from the 80’s.
Every once in a while I’ll flip through them, and think back to when I was a kid. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 11:56:52 AM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just think - they had most of the infrastructure in place to become what Amazon is now. In addition to printing the catalog, they could have had it online in the early 90s - click, buy, ship... They already had distribution centers in many major cities, plus the stores themselves. All but vanished now. Sears was selling some stuff for sale on the web back in the early 1990s. I remember seeing that on my first PC/modem. But you're right. They had the perfect opportunity to own that market, and blew it. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 12:23:27 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just think - they had most of the infrastructure in place to become what Amazon is now. In addition to printing the catalog, they could have had it online in the early 90s - click, buy, ship... They already had distribution centers in many major cities, plus the stores themselves. All but vanished now. Early 1990s would have been a stretch. Ebay and Amazon were mid 1990s, Started from home / in the garage sort of side gigs that were late 90s when racking up serious sales and going public. We sort of lacked the internet saturation, speeds, etc. Until the lates 1990s. 1997 or so we were still looking at under 40% of homes with a computer and less than half that with internet. Around 2000 we hit 50% with computers and 40% internet. This is essentially when Service Merchandise and Montgomery Ward folded. Sears has gone from over 50 billion to about five billion in annual sales since then. You could make an argument one of them could have become Amazon. On the other hand, JC Penny started internet sales in 1998, grossing over 15 million the first year. A few years later it still had over 1000 stores, over a quarter million employees, about 15 billion in annual sales, and a strong online component. By 2010 it’s catalog was done with, demographics destroyed the desire of anyone to go to the mall, they were going to a non mall format, but demographics continue to destroy people wanting to go to a store downtown for shopping. They continue to try to rebrand, adjust, etc. Covid comes and they file for bankruptcy in 2020. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 12:44:23 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: <snip>and the women's underwear section. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 12:45:29 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Just think - they had most of the infrastructure in place to become what Amazon is now. In addition to printing the catalog, they could have had it online in the early 90s - click, buy, ship... They already had distribution centers in many major cities, plus the stores themselves. All but vanished now. |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 12:47:21 PM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I also remember running a stick around the hole before sitting down too 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 12:51:38 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm 52 and remember it well. I also remember checking out the women's undergarment section of the regular catalogs. Those were the catalyst that fueled my desire to locate discarded nudie magazines at local landfill as a young boy.  Attached File |
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 12:57:38 PM EDT
[#41]
I only remember the Sears fap book with all the female underwear models…we didn’t have much in the50’s
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 12:59:36 PM EDT
[#42]
That dark tower game for $40 is going to be released by restoration games for around $200.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 1:15:26 PM EDT
[#43]
My parents had conditioned me to become insanely excited about that book, knowing I would never own any of it because we were poor and my parents didn't have credit cards. They taught me to be thrilled for what other people were able to earn or receive. Then maybe they would let me come with them sometime. As long as I never called out sick, never showed up late, always stayed late, asked for the minimum wage only, I'd always be a valued employee. My Dad taught me how to be a bitch. A little nancy boy slave bitch. Fuck that book. Fuck you Sears! Aaaarggghhh!!!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 1:22:16 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I was thinking this same thing when I saw this thread. Sears was the Amazon of the <90's. This is a case study on how sitting on your ass and not having true visionary leadership can collapse a giant, and how the opposite can build an empire from nothing. Would be a cool documentary. The internet is just a passing fad. 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 1:22:28 PM EDT
[#45]
   
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 1:41:58 PM EDT
[#46]
Good time to be a kid
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 1:44:02 PM EDT
[#47]
I loved the Wish Book. I spent waaay too much time looking at it. Wish we kept them.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 1:45:14 PM EDT
[#48]
Fuck yes I cherished that thing like rusty’s cousin dale cherished his nudey books!!!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 1:57:46 PM EDT
[#49]
Oh yes. Good times. We really got more into the service merchandise catalog. I've still got several guns I bought there. Sears was making so much money off their credit cards that they lost focus on the merchandise people were buying with the credit cards. I remember getting a sears credit card in the early 90's. But never used it. Buying consumer goods on credit never seemed like a good idea to me.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 7/3/2021 2:19:32 PM EDT
[#50]
I remember their catalogs. They should have gone on-line but were slow and lost out. Ditto with the other major department stores like JC Penny or Montgomery Wards.
Besides losing out on the interweb, with the shrinkage of their middle class customer base, so went those stores. |
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
