Michael Ramirez for October 22, 2018

Sad to see it go

Sears was the Walmart of its day. The catalog worked out pretty well in rural outhouses as well. As the shopping malls faded, so did Sears and JCPenny isn’t far behind. Amazon is a threat to Walmart and other big box stores but some of them have been smart enough to go with the flow and offer online as well.

Sears stopped making those mail order catalogs some 20 years ago.

Sears destroyed its business model when it moved away from catalogs. People waited all year for their catalogs to arrive. Since then, they’ve just been waiting for it to finally close.

It was time to go.

This cartoon by Mr. Ramirez is not a political comment. He has given us a nice picture of 1958 and 2018. Note the B 25 images; overhead, a Revell plastic model, nicely done, with the decals all in the right places, and on the computer screen, the .pdf image.1958 is providing the youngster a lift up in the form of the (very thick) Sears catalog. A nice analogy and a nice job. Dripping with nostalgia.

Sears became a sad place to visit. Gray walls with chipping tiles on the floors and stock that looked like it was gathering dust. Not an inviting place to go. No doubt the fallout of their cost cutting.

I’m sitting here trying to decipher the symbolism of the twice-drawn Mitchell bomber. Sears was hugely ascendant then, but there has to be more.

At my house, we got catalogs from Sears, Montgomery Ward, AND JC Penney. It was glorious!

A Ramirez drawing I can finally agree with. Some things are fairly universal.

I liked Sears for just a few items; car batteries and their selection of Levi jeans, Ty Pennington bath towels were good quality. The “diehard” supporters are feeling sad now.

If Sears was a bit more forward thinking and adaptable… it could have been the place people shopped online.

My biggest memory was of a Christmas morning, and under the tree was my heart’s desire; Fort Apache (I think it was called). A plastic fort, molded cavalry men (and horses), molded indians (Native Americans, and horses), and all manner of accessories. I must have been about seven, and it was still in good shape when passed on to several late coming relatives. I wonder what it’s worth now on e-bay?

A refreshing change for Mr. Ramirez. I wish we could all place far less emphasis on politics. I mourn the loss of good old Sears tho. I had a part time job for them in the 60’s.

They failed to respond to the internet. By the time internet commerce was on the rise their catalog experience was long gone. Instead of looking forward they doubled down on brick and mortar.

I knew the end was coming when they closed all the stand alone Sears Hardware stores.

Nice tribute to nostalgia Mr Ramirez – the details are spot on.

I still don’t quite understand this cartoon.

B-24 built by Ford at Willow Run? Really liked using the Sears catalogue, and their rural catalogue stores were forerunners of Amazon, and you could even get Kenmore appliances. Sears and J.C. Penney were both great ways to shop, and if you had an outhouse, you know what else they were good for.

Yup, it’s a B-24, not a B-25.

another victim of amazon.