Sears, Roebuck and Company

Variant names
Dates:
Establishment 1892
Active 1855
Active 1981
Americans
English

History notes:

Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1892, and reincorporated by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald in 1906. Formerly based at the Sears Tower in Chicago and currently headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, the operation began as a mail ordering catalog company and began opening retail locations in 1925. The first location was in Chicago, Illinois. In 2005, the company was bought by the management of the American big box chain Kmart, which formed Sears Holdings upon completion of the merger.

Sears, Roebuck and Company was a competitor to the highly successful mail order company Montgomery Ward. By 1900, Sears, Roebuck was indeed outselling Ward's. Roebuck did not remain long with the company, but his name was retained. In 1908, Sears retired from the company as well. Although not the originator of the mail-order catalog, Sears, Roebuck and Company became quite successful in that business.

From the description of A trip through Sears, Roebuck & Co., ca.1905. (Winterthur Library). WorldCat record id: 261235211

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Information

Subjects:

  • Department stores
  • Agricultural machinery
  • Architecture
  • Building materials
  • Businesswomen
  • Employee training facilities
  • Fire department
  • Fireplaces
  • Gardens
  • Lumber trade
  • Mail-order business
  • Mantels
  • Millwork
  • Occupational health services
  • Patent medicines
  • Photography
  • Pneumatic-tube transportation
  • Poultry
  • Printing plants
  • Radio
  • Railroads
  • Telephone in business
  • Wallpaper
  • Woodworking machinery

Occupations:

not available for this record

Places:

  • IL, US
  • Chicago (Ill.) (as recorded)
  • Illinois--Chicago (as recorded)
  • Illinois--Chicago (as recorded)