Online shopping has turned us into couch potatoes who buy more than we ever used to. Adding items to an imaginary cart and clicking, “Buy Now,” has sent us further into debt and taken the fun out of the shopping experience.

Before Amazon, there was Wal Mart, and before that there was Sears and lots of other chain stores. Many of which started as a catalog.

Catalogs used to be the way we shopped. It still is if you think about it. Amazon is really nothing more than an online catalog. The difference is that a catalog that came in the mail was a lot more exciting.

You picked out what you wanted in the catalog, and then either mailed off for your item, called it in on the phone, or drove to one of the chain stores to pick it up.

Few other things brought more of the family’s attention than a Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalog in the mail. There were many other catalogs, but those were the big two in the house where I grew up in Ashdown, Arkansas.

You could get a Sears Wish Book catalog any time of year, but holiday time drawing near made it especially popular. The one in our house was well used. My sister and I would dog-ear the pages of what we wanted, hoping our mom would notice. She often did.

According to GoodHousekeeping.com, the first Sears Wish Book was published in 1933, the last in 2011. I miss Sears and the Wish Book.

Thumbing through a catalog was great, but a visit to one of the chain stores was the real treat. As the name implies, a chain store was one that could be found in just about every major town or city.

One of my favorites to visit was Montgomery Ward. They had an escalator. Most moms frowned on their kids playing on an elevator, so they especially didn’t like you playing on an escalator. That didn’t mean we didn’t do it.

My family bought a lot of things from Montgomery Ward. My first electric guitar was an Airlines brand, sold at Wards. I wish I’d kept that guitar.

Montgomery Wards meant enough to me that as I got closer to adulthood and needed to begin establishing credit, Wards was where I got my first major credit card. When I married and had kids, our lawnmower and other lawn equipment came from there.

Sears, however, was the king of the chains for us. There really wasn’t much that you needed that you couldn’t get at Sears. Our cars had Sears Die Hard Batteries in them. The jeans we wore while installing the batteries came from Sears. So did the Craftsman tools we used to install them.

If you ever had a problem with a Sears hand tool, you could walk in to any of Sears’ locations and get a free replacement. Almost all of my dad’s and my Craftsman tools came from there. I still have every one of mine.

Other chains of the day included Western Auto, Services Merchandise, OTASCO, Radio Shack, TG&Y, and Gibson’s. Gibson’s carried lots of great items, including my first sleeping bag and camping gear, which was used all during Cub Scouts, Webelos, and Boy Scouts.

By the way, OTASCO stood for Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company and TG&Y was short for its founders – Tomlinson, Gosselin, and Young.

We were fond of all of them, but I especially liked the gimmick at Service Merchandise. You could order the item you wanted, and then go to one of their locations, where you’d wait in an area with a conveyor belt for your item to come out.

It was similar to the baggage carrier at an airport, but the difference was the item you ordered and Service Merchandise always came out on the belt. My luggage doesn’t always show up.

The difference between these chain stores and how most people now shop online now is the difference between experiencing actual shopping, social interaction, and the joy of being with family.

It’s not too late. Some companies still have catalogs you can download, and stores where you can go. There’s still a Gibson’s in Kerrville, Texas. Radio Shack stores are here and there around the country. Take the kids, get out.

Start your own chain gang.

 

©2025 John Moore

John’s books, Puns for Groan People and Write of Passage: A Southerner’s View of Then and Now Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, are available on his website TheCountryWriter.com, where you can also send him a message.