Sears Near Me

In 1886, Sears managed to carve out a true place for itself in the United States retail market. While they began by selling watches, Sears quickly expanded to offer everything from bikes and clothing to home goods and appliances. Now, Sears is a one stop shop for just about anything an average American could possibly need. While Sears has enjoyed its fair share of ups and downs in recent years, the brand remains a strong player in the retail market.

Are you interested in finding a Sears in your area? Simply browse Sears near me on the map below and find a Sears location near you. Need a bit more information on this historic department store? Read on for facts and trivia on Sears!

Sears Near Me – Find it on the Map

Sears Near Me – Sears Trivia

True or false: Sears was founded by an unsuspecting jeweler.

True! Back in 1886, (long before you could ever have searched Sears near me) a Chicago based jewelry company shipped a few boxes of gold filled watches to an unsuspecting jeweler who lived in a Minnesota hamlet. While there was nothing truly special about this shipment, it started a chain reaction that eventually lead to the founding of Sears. Richard Sears, a station agent at the Minneapolis and St. Louis railway station had plenty of time while working his day job to make a little extra money on the side. Initially he sold lumber and coal to local residents in order to make ends meet. Soon coal and lumber weren’t quite doing the trick. Sears received a shipment of watches that were unwanted by a neighboring jeweler in Minnesota. Sears seized the opportunity and purchased the watches for himself, selling them for a nice profit to the other station agents up and down the line. Compelled by his sudden surge in profit, Sears decided to order more watches, which lead him to create the R.W. Sears Watch Company in 1886.

A typical Sears is bright airy and well light with a vast array of offerings. From appliances to clothing, Sears has something to meet every American’s needs.

What year did Sears move to Chicago?

For the founder of Sears, Minneapolis proved to be small fish in comparison to the kind of business he could do in the higher income area of Chicago. In 1887, Sears officially moved his business to Chicago and placed a simple classified ad in the pages of the Chicago Daily News. The ad was in request of a watchmaker. Sears requested little more than someone who could furnish tools and list some experience. An Indiana born man named Alvah C. Roebuck answered to ad, explaining to Sears that he knew watches in and out, bringing along samples of his illustrious work to prove it. Sears hired Roebuck on the spot, thus beginning the long association between these two young men. Though both only in their twenties, Sears and Roebuck went onto create the corporate form Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1893. The rest is retail history!

How did Sears establish a place for themselves?

In searching Sears know me, you likely know this department store in its physical form. Prior to becoming one of the most well known brick and mortar stores in the US, the Sears company was largely a mail order business. Early catalogs featured watches and jewelry predominantly. It wasn’t until 1895 that the company began to produce a 532 page catalog with a large assortment of items. The new catalogs still featured watches and jewelry, but they also featured shoes, women’s clothing, wagons, fishing tackle, stoves, furniture, fine china, instruments, horse saddles, guns, buggies, bicycles, baby carriages, and housewares. Sales from the new catalog topped $400,000 dollars. Within two years, sales rapidly grew to exceed $750,000.

Sears Near Me – Sears Facts

$1 Billion Sales

Despite having found massive success in the mail order space, Sears didn’t capture its first billion in sales until a few prevalent retail locations were formed. In 1967, Sears boasted $1 billion in monthly sales for the very first time (hey not bad for 30 days of work). In 1970, a subsidiary called Allstate Enterprises formed. Allstate Enterprises acquired Metropolitan Savings and Loan Association, the first of several savings and loan companies that the Sears corporation would acquire over the next several decades. It was also in 1970 that construction began on the incredible 110 story Sears Tower. Completed in 1974, the Sears Tower was the tallest building in the world for several years. It was also a symbol of corporate pride in the United States.

The Sears Credit Card

While searching Sears near me, you might be interested in acquiring a Sears credit card. For several years, the Sears credit card has proved a pivotal part of the Sears family. Back in the late 1990s when sears was on shaky grounds, the Sears Credit card attributed highly to the company’s revenue by attracting a whopping 6.4 million customers in just 1996. This brought the nationwide total of cardholders to 55 million. During this year the company CEO was also named CEO of the Year of Financial World. Despite these successes, Sears began to falter once more in the following years and the CEO had to trim down on operations that weren’t producing enough income. On the selling block were the underperforming Home Life stores and Western Auto. Parts America was also sold off during these slim years.

Sears In The Present Day

While searching Sears near me, you might be wondering exactly what attributed to Sears slipping behind other large box retailers. Though Sears was once the largest retailer in the world, it now falls fourth behind the likes of Target, Walmart, and Home Depot. Despite having updated celebrity lines and in house brands such as Lands End and Covington, Sears has failed to make as much of an impact on shoppers as it once did. Couple this was the fierce competition of low cost giants such as Walmart and splashy department stores such as Kohls, and Sears still has a hard hill to climb in terms of making a full comeback. Of course, ultimately the consumer cares about quality, cost, and location. With Sears hitting on all fronts, there’s no doubt that this retail juggernaut can make a full comeback in the minds of consumers. Only time will truly tell what Sears’ historic next moves will be.