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Editor's note:This article is a part of a series reviewing U.S. and Utah history for KSL.com's Historic section.
SALT LAKE CITY — Sears’ announcement that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday after missing a debt payment was the latest blow for the legendary department chain on the decline.
Department stores like Sears may be on the way out. In fact, Sears has all but vanished in Utah. It has a hardware store in Logan and a hometown store in Price, according to its website.
Sears played an important role in American consumerism. Their place in history is something that continues to be seen today, even if the company eventually disappears for good.
Its early origins were similar to a tech startup you’d hear about today or even one of the online retail giants that have grown to shove out brick and mortar stores.
Richard W. Sears, a railroad station agent in Minnesota, founded Sears in 1886 when he sold watches not wanted by a jeweler in the state. He then sold the watches through mail-order. Sears moved to Chicago the following year and sold the business within three years of starting it.
In 1893, Sears returned to business to create Sears, Roebuck and Company along with his previous employee, Alvah Roebuck. In 1895, clothing manufacturer Julius Rosenwald bought out Roebuck’s stock in the company and reorganized it and Sears wrote the catalogs. The company began to use the U.S. Postal Service to sell merchandise to anyone in its first couple of decades, which expanded its customer base, according to Encyclopedia Britannica — an encyclopedia the Sears company would later own and publish for more than 20 years in the early-to-mid 20th century.
As Vicki Howard from Smithsonian Magazine notes, their mailing technique reached “underserved” rural areas by using railroads and mail service. In addition, the catalogs were soon a hit nationwide, showcasing anything from clothing to furniture.
Sears became a household name by the early 20th century that controlled the rural market, the Howard added.
It became a publicly-traded company in 1906 and had about 9,000 employees and $50 million in sales by then, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago. By 1920, that number grew to $235 million — equal to nearly $3 billion in 2018, adjusting for inflation. The encyclopedia stated the growth was attributed to its “no money down” policy and “generous” consumer credit.
Howard writes the catalogs “warm, welcoming tone” and simple terminology essentially taught Americans how to shop.
The first Sears retail store opened in 1924 after Robert Wood joined the company and believed stores in urban areas more would be accessible for suburban and rural residents as more and more owned automobiles, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. There were already more than 300 retail stores nationwide by 1929 and retail sales topped mail-order sales by 1931. It was the largest retailer for decades until the 1980s.
In addition, Sears, as well as other retailers J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward controlled nearly half of all retail market sales by 1975.
However, it began to fall apart as more competition entered the market. Kmart overtook Sears in retail sales in the 1980s, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, and later purchased Sears for about $12 billion in 2005. Walmart overtook both stores in retail sales by the end of the 20th century and both Kmart and Sears began to disappear in the digital age.
That’s not to say Sears is over with the bankruptcy announcement. There were a little more than 500 Kmart and Sears after the company also announced more closures Monday.
Whatever happens to Sears in the future, it’ll still have a lasting place in American shopping history.
Utahns have seen this decline in once-prominent retail companies in their own backyards. For example, ZCMI and Auerbach’s were both founded in the 1860s. Both grew into Utah’s place to shop retail until the final decades of the 20th century.
Auerbach’s closed in 1979 and ZCMI was sold off in 1999. They were replaced by national chains and online shopping. Like Sears, both Auerbach's and Sears left a place in history.
