42 Facts About Sears Catalog

1.

Sears Catalog was based in the Sears Catalog Tower in Chicago from 1973 until 1995, and is currently headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

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2.

Sears Catalog announced in 2021 that it would be selling its Hoffman Estates headquarters complex.

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3.

Richard Warren Sears Catalog was born in 1863 in Stewartville, Minnesota to a wealthy family which moved to nearby Spring Valley.

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4.

Sears Catalog moved across the state to work as a railroad station agent in North Redwood, then Minneapolis.

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5.

Sears Catalog purchased them and sold them at a low price to the station agents, making a profit.

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6.

In 1889, Sears Catalog sold his business for $100,000 and relocated to Iowa, planning to be a rural banker.

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7.

Sears Catalog offered Roebuck's half of the company to Chicago businessman Aaron Nusbaum, who in turn brought in his brother-in-law Julius Rosenwald, whom Sears Catalog owed money.

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8.

Sears Catalog traded under the ticker symbol S and was a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1924 to 1999.

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9.

In 1906, Sears opened its catalog plant and the Sears Merchandise Building Tower in Chicago's West Side.

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10.

The complex served as corporate headquarters until 1973 when the Sears Tower was completed and served as the base of the mail-order catalog business until 1995.

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11.

Sears Catalog resigned from the presidency in 1908 due to declining health, with Rosenwald named president and chairman of the board and taking on full control.

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12.

Sears Catalog was a pioneer in creating department stores that catered to men and women.

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13.

In 1933, Sears issued the first of its Christmas catalogs known as the "Sears Wishbook", a catalog featuring toys and gifts, separate from the annual Christmas Catalog.

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14.

Sears Catalog opened its first store in Mexico City in 1947; the Mexican stores would later spin off into Sears Catalog Mexico, which in 2020 operated more than 75 stores across Mexico.

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15.

In July 2021, it was announced that Sears Catalog Mexico is considering renaming their stores to distance itself from its failing former parent in the United States.

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16.

Sears Catalog began to diversify in the 1930s, creating Allstate Insurance Company in 1931 and placing Allstate representatives in its stores in 1934.

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17.

Sears Catalog purchased David Bradley to manufacture farm and lawn equipment.

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18.

In 1974, Sears Catalog completed the 110-story Sears Catalog Tower in Chicago, which became the world's tallest building, a title it took from the former Twin Towers in New York.

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19.

Sears Catalog moved to the new Prairie Stone Business Park in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, between 1993 and 1995.

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20.

The Sears Catalog Centre is a 10,001-seat multi-purpose arena located in Hoffman Estates adjacent to the Prairie Stone campus.

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21.

Sears Catalog sold to foreign customers, such as after the American occupation of Greenland in World War II, Philippines, among others, when locals ordered from catalogs left by soldiers.

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22.

Sears Catalog spun off its financial services arm, which included brokerage business Dean Witter Reynolds and Discover Card.

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23.

Sears Catalog later acquired hardware chain Orchard Supply Hardware in 1996 and started home improvement store The Great Indoors in 1997.

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24.

In 1998, Sears Catalog announced it had sold the remnants of Western Auto to Roanoke-based Advance Auto Parts.

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25.

In 2003, Sears Catalog sold its US retail credit card operation to Citibank.

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26.

The new company started trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange as SHLD; Sears Catalog sold its single-letter ticker symbol 'S' in the New York Stock Exchange that it had held since 1910 to Sprint Corporation.

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27.

Sears Catalog declined from more than 3,500 physical stores to 695 US stores from 2010 to 2017.

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28.

Sears Catalog spent much of 2014 and 2015 selling off portions of its balance sheet; namely, Lands' End and its stake in Sears Catalog Canada, one of the biggest e-commerce players in Canada, with Can$505 million in sales in 2015—more than Walmart and others who had begun pushing aggressively into online sales, such as Canadian Tire.

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29.

Sears Catalog stated that the company was looking to focus on becoming a more tech-driven retailer.

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30.

Sears Catalog Holdings had lost a total of US$7 billion in the four years to 2015.

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31.

Sears Catalog believed the membership scheme would enhance repeat business and customer loyalty in the long term.

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32.

In May 2018, Sears Catalog announced it had formed a "special committee" to explore the sale of Kenmore.

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33.

Sears Catalog Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15,2018, ahead of a $134 million debt payment due that day.

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34.

On November 23,2018, Sears Catalog Holdings released a list of 505 stores, including 266 Sears Catalog stores, that were for sale in the bankruptcy process, while all others would hold liquidation sales.

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35.

On January 16,2019, Sears Catalog Holdings announced it would remain open after Lampert won a bankruptcy auction for the company with an offer to keep about 400 stores open.

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36.

Also that month, Sears Catalog closed its store at Windward Mall in Kaneohe, Hawaii, and its store at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois, making it the first post-bankruptcy closure for the brand since being bought by ESL.

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37.

In September 2021, Sears Catalog announced that it would close more stores, including the last Sears Catalog store in New York City.

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38.

The New York City Sears Catalog closed by November 24,2021, and will potentially be redeveloped.

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39.

On January 19,2022, Sears Catalog shuttered the remaining 15 Sears Catalog Auto Centers in the United States.

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40.

Sears Catalog claimed the new base wage, often constituting a substantial cut in pay, was done "to be successful in this highly competitive environment".

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41.

In early October 2007, Sears Catalog cut commission rates for employees in some departments to between 0.

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42.

In March 2019, Sears Catalog claimed that it was ending life insurance benefits for an undisclosed number of its 90,000 retirees.

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