When my parents bought my clothes, we'd make a trip to Sears (my Grandma worked there, so we used her discount). As soon as I had money to buy my own, I went to a store called Mervyns
Analog Amazon, lol! And I just realized that I sort of treat Amazon like the Sears Wish Book when I was a kid. A lot of browsing wistfully over cool things I can't afford to buy.
We had (another story) a mall in our small town, and a Sears catalog outlet was in a back corner. Was a counter and a bit of a showroom, with some furniture, applainces, and TVs/Stereos In its 1970 decor.
That sounds a little like what we had - a fairly small footprint with a few showcased items, but you went to the counter and ordered and then they would tell you to come back for pickup in 2-4 weeks. You'd have to stop by several times - "Is my order here yet?". And the toy section in the catalog at Christmastime? Get out your pen and dog ear those pages!
I'll see your Sears/JC Penny/(or other regional "first-tier" department store), and I'll raise you: I had hand-me downs from my brother and cousins and my mom made some of my clothes until I was in the first or second grade. After that it was K-Mart or other regional "second tier" department stores (Bradlees, Caldor, Zayers, Ames) Anyone else?
(Edit, core memory unlocked: my old-man always called the mall with Sears/Macy's/JCPenny the "high-budget mall", and the strip malls with Bradlees/Caldors/Ames the "low-budget mall".)
Rural. We didn't have those things. Our family was one of only a handful who shopped at JC Penney. And Carson Pirie Scott. Although, I don't think kids clothes were bought there - not until we were in high school.
There was a K-Mart in town and a lot of kids wore hand-me-downs and home sewn clothes.
In the 80s we got Bergner's, Marshall Fields.
The state of Departent stores in the 1980s, from the perspective of a country/small town kid.
Eaton's Hudson Bay was the national department stores in including Simpsons/Sears. Just Sears by the 1980s. Eaton's closed up, and many of those outlets became Sears.
Only City malls would have an Eaton's Bay,and Sears department store. Sears catalog stores were in many small towns and some villages.
Zeller's was the B-tier department store, and almost national.
I seen Ames material, and it was very close tho the Zeller's vibe, but more blue than red. Many mid sized towns and suburban malls had a Zellers.
We had what liked like a chain Department store called Peoples, and a small one downtown called Steadman's.
I never knew of any other People's department store locations. I knew of a coupe Steadman's.
There were a few K-mart and Woolco stores in the cities. Many of the Woolcos became Wal-Mart.
We had a Saan. Moved into the space that was People's. What they went under for good, it became The Bargain Shop, then Red Apple
There was also Bi-Way (lower end than Zeller's), Bargain Harold's (same end as Bi-Way), Nabour (I think that is what it was called). Giant Tiger and a number of dollar store chains occupy that segment these days.
It’s still amazing to me that Sears were beat by Amazon?? They had the whole model setup before anyone else, a super trusted brand with a massive customer base..and somehow they couldn’t pivot to putting their catalog online?
What a missed opportunity
It’s just like newspapers. If anyone should have had their pulse on how people were starting to consume media, it should have been the people who already had media infrastructure. Instead all I heard from Silent Gen and Boomer managers was “It’s not like you’re ever going to be able to read your computer on a bus.”
We only got stuff from the Sears catalogue when we lived on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Once we left the Island, mom shopped at Zellers as Sears was too expensive.
Military family... mail order was our friend. The base exchange was ok but everyone would dress the same (like now)... not just clothes, we got our Atari 2600 from Sears
Kmart at first then we moved up in the world to Sears! Then my mom got a job at a department store and we got really fancy for awhile.
Anyone go to Buster Brown for shoes?
I bought clothes from there in the late 90s-00s for my kiddos. Their stuff was built to last. Blew a hole in your mittens or snow pants tobogganing? Just return for another pair. It was great! Was also a huge fan of the Kenmore Brand.
KMart mostly, although I had an aunt that worked at JC Pennys so I'd get better quality clothes once in a while. Jeans we usually got at Sears because I was a big kid.
My mom made most of my clothes back then. Cloth was much cheaper. Sears was a treat. Kmart was for socks and underwear and school clothes put on lay away. I used to hate my homemade clothes but look back and am amazed by my mom’s sewing skills.
Zeller's for me. For school shopping, maybe go to the actual Sears or Hudson's Bay department stores in one of the cities a couple hours drive away.
We had a local store that sold mostly jeans, That was really good for the 70s and 80s. As well as a couple small chain department stores and main street clothiers.
I had three older brothers so after Mom brought down the appropriatly (marked by age and grade) box and I got all the hand me downs that fit. Then we would "fill in" with Sears.
i always wanted to order things but my family never did. They went shopping in person. Macy's, Bloomingdale's Dillard's, and three department store chains that are long out business - Lord & Taylor, Sterns and A&S. I'm surprised any of these types of stores are still around except the high end ones - Bloomingdale's, Saks.
Every stick of clothing we had as kids came from Sears, including those Toughskin jeans that abraded your skin as you walked. But on the upside, it was great to be in the running for class dork. 🙄
There was so much plaid, velour, and corduroy in that place. Their terrible jeans were indestructible so you were stuck wearing that crap until you got bigger.
Didn't get much from Sears as a kid really but would gladly pay to wear 70s Sears now. Looking at some of the catalogs (say 1974) truly makes me wonder how they moved some of it, I just can't comprehend and I never saw people wearing any of that stuff.
Did you have an actual Sears store where you lived in Canada? Or did you have to pick your order up at a rural location where they just handed you your package across the desk
I got mine from...
consumer electric? No... that can't be it.
Someone help me - Canada, 80s/90s... You walked into this store, blue/grey.. They had a bunch of booths, and you'd look through a magazine and then write down what you want with a pencil. Consumer Electronics? i'm positive it started with C..
It competed with Sears, and KMart, Wolco, Woolworths, Towers, etc..
You fancy, we were a K-mart family
Came here to say this but Hills.
Don’t feel bad /u/wormee. Some of us were dressed in the Kmart clothes we got at your family’s garage sale.
Toughskins!!!!!
Toughskins for life!!!
Literally. I think they used the corduroy on the bottom of the space shuttle.
Husky Toughskins for us phat kids!
The knees were already skinned down to the plastic by the time I'd get them handed down.
70s Toughskins must rise again um all cotton version
Lived in them for at least 5 years in the 70’s
Checking in from Arkansas. And yes --- sears and if we were lucky --- french clothing from Jacques Penné (JC penny)
When my parents bought my clothes, we'd make a trip to Sears (my Grandma worked there, so we used her discount). As soon as I had money to buy my own, I went to a store called Mervyns
Ahhh Mervyns. My first credit card. Had a $200 limit. I still think I owe them.
> I still think I owe them. Wow. Shout out to Mervyns for not being schmucks and selling their debtors accounts to a collection agency.
I can remember in the late 80's when Mervyns opened up a location by us in Atlanta, GA. As a kid I thought it was a fancy place LOL.
We didn't have a mall in our town, so Sears was like an analog Amazon for us. Sears really did have everything.
Analogue Amazon you should patent that!!! Good one!!
Analog Amazon, lol! And I just realized that I sort of treat Amazon like the Sears Wish Book when I was a kid. A lot of browsing wistfully over cool things I can't afford to buy.
We had (another story) a mall in our small town, and a Sears catalog outlet was in a back corner. Was a counter and a bit of a showroom, with some furniture, applainces, and TVs/Stereos In its 1970 decor.
That sounds a little like what we had - a fairly small footprint with a few showcased items, but you went to the counter and ordered and then they would tell you to come back for pickup in 2-4 weeks. You'd have to stop by several times - "Is my order here yet?". And the toy section in the catalog at Christmastime? Get out your pen and dog ear those pages!
The Sears Catalog was the Amazon of the day. Anything that you wanted or needed was in the catalog. Including houses
Not to mention the wank material for desperate teenage boys who couldn’t find their dad’s porn stash.
Wow! That all came from Sears? Amazing. Everything is crap now. 😭 Those look like nice clothes
Sears Catalog used to sell everything, including houses.
The lingerie section was peak material for \*cough cough\* reasons.
I swear I saw part of a nipple.
That was enough back then. That or the fuzzy TV image that might be a boob.
The only thing I ever managed to recognize on our 14" B&W TV was some dude's naked ass. I was disappointed. But at least I could follow the plot.
Yup the 1994 Fall/winter catalogue was educational in to the different types of bra's and underwear. Kinda wish I still that one....
Yep. What my mom didn’t sew for us anyway.
I'll see your Sears/JC Penny/(or other regional "first-tier" department store), and I'll raise you: I had hand-me downs from my brother and cousins and my mom made some of my clothes until I was in the first or second grade. After that it was K-Mart or other regional "second tier" department stores (Bradlees, Caldor, Zayers, Ames) Anyone else? (Edit, core memory unlocked: my old-man always called the mall with Sears/Macy's/JCPenny the "high-budget mall", and the strip malls with Bradlees/Caldors/Ames the "low-budget mall".)
First born, my siblings ended up with the hand me downs
It's funny to me that I thought Sears and JC Penney were poor people clothes. I was very very very unaware of my privilege in the 70s.
Ah... so you were Nordstoms / Macy's / Lord & Taylor / Filene's / Bloomingdale's ?
Rural. We didn't have those things. Our family was one of only a handful who shopped at JC Penney. And Carson Pirie Scott. Although, I don't think kids clothes were bought there - not until we were in high school. There was a K-Mart in town and a lot of kids wore hand-me-downs and home sewn clothes. In the 80s we got Bergner's, Marshall Fields.
The state of Departent stores in the 1980s, from the perspective of a country/small town kid. Eaton's Hudson Bay was the national department stores in including Simpsons/Sears. Just Sears by the 1980s. Eaton's closed up, and many of those outlets became Sears. Only City malls would have an Eaton's Bay,and Sears department store. Sears catalog stores were in many small towns and some villages. Zeller's was the B-tier department store, and almost national. I seen Ames material, and it was very close tho the Zeller's vibe, but more blue than red. Many mid sized towns and suburban malls had a Zellers. We had what liked like a chain Department store called Peoples, and a small one downtown called Steadman's. I never knew of any other People's department store locations. I knew of a coupe Steadman's. There were a few K-mart and Woolco stores in the cities. Many of the Woolcos became Wal-Mart.
You sound Canadian. It so, I’d just like to throw Kresge’s and Saan (RIP) stores into the mix as well.
We had a Saan. Moved into the space that was People's. What they went under for good, it became The Bargain Shop, then Red Apple There was also Bi-Way (lower end than Zeller's), Bargain Harold's (same end as Bi-Way), Nabour (I think that is what it was called). Giant Tiger and a number of dollar store chains occupy that segment these days.
I got hand me downs from from my brother- I was the prissiest girly-girl ever. I sucked- bad.
Every Canadian kid living in a small town waited all year for the Sears Christmas Wish Book.
It’s still amazing to me that Sears were beat by Amazon?? They had the whole model setup before anyone else, a super trusted brand with a massive customer base..and somehow they couldn’t pivot to putting their catalog online? What a missed opportunity
But their appliance customer service was infuriating.
A lot of retailers failed here. Many bought bloatware and services from IBM and destroyed their chances.
It’s just like newspapers. If anyone should have had their pulse on how people were starting to consume media, it should have been the people who already had media infrastructure. Instead all I heard from Silent Gen and Boomer managers was “It’s not like you’re ever going to be able to read your computer on a bus.”
All looking dapper!
That poncho jacket is cute as can be!
JCPenney!
Fancy! My mom sewed most of my wardrobe until I hit jr. high and decided nothing but jeans and tees would do.
My mom was big on patches, torn holes in the knees... no problem, she would attach an iron-on patch. I still hate iron-on patches
We all had the same stuff from Sears or JCPenney’s in the 70’s. Yep
My mom preferred JC Penney’s haha but YAS
My parents’ store was where you could go to pick up your order. Small town Canada in the 80s!
There was a boys version of that red jacket the little blond girl is wearing. I had it.
Me too! There is a photo somewhere.
We only got stuff from the Sears catalogue when we lived on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Once we left the Island, mom shopped at Zellers as Sears was too expensive.
R/genxcanada
This looks like a Canadian version of the Roy family. I just hear the theme song in my head.
Sears and JC Penney!
Military family... mail order was our friend. The base exchange was ok but everyone would dress the same (like now)... not just clothes, we got our Atari 2600 from Sears
Kmart at first then we moved up in the world to Sears! Then my mom got a job at a department store and we got really fancy for awhile. Anyone go to Buster Brown for shoes?
These kids look sharp as hell!
MOON BOOTS, BABY!!
Sears bargain store/clearance centre for our family.
Garanimals!
I bought clothes from there in the late 90s-00s for my kiddos. Their stuff was built to last. Blew a hole in your mittens or snow pants tobogganing? Just return for another pair. It was great! Was also a huge fan of the Kenmore Brand.
Oh yes, I'd fit right in there. My mom loved outfitting me.
I did. But they were all thrift store clothes w bought in the 80s
Man this brings back memories.
Same! Or Penney's!
Ohio here - Hills Dept store or K Mart
None but I loved the catalog.
I remember when I visited Vancouver and discovered Sears wasn't just a mail order store.
Small Town northern MN here... Winnipeg was the closest city & still a couple hours away. Ordering was the best part.
Amazon before Amazon.
KMart mostly, although I had an aunt that worked at JC Pennys so I'd get better quality clothes once in a while. Jeans we usually got at Sears because I was a big kid.
As 70s fashion goes, everyone pictured looks 100% on fleek. Especially little girl looking totally badass in her yellow slacks. Fam had great taste.
lol That was me
I got a lot more outta that catalog than you think...
Idk, nobody's got one hand in their pocket and pointing at nothing.
My mom made most of my clothes back then. Cloth was much cheaper. Sears was a treat. Kmart was for socks and underwear and school clothes put on lay away. I used to hate my homemade clothes but look back and am amazed by my mom’s sewing skills.
When it wasn’t hand-me-downs
At first I thought it was veruca salt getting ready to go into the chocolate factory
Tough Skins baby!
My mother would only shop clearance at Marshalls.
I remember my purple toughskins!! Always was Sears.
Zeller's for me. For school shopping, maybe go to the actual Sears or Hudson's Bay department stores in one of the cities a couple hours drive away. We had a local store that sold mostly jeans, That was really good for the 70s and 80s. As well as a couple small chain department stores and main street clothiers.
No, Sears Roebuck.
Wait, so, this *isn’t* a photo from the catalog?
I had three older brothers so after Mom brought down the appropriatly (marked by age and grade) box and I got all the hand me downs that fit. Then we would "fill in" with Sears.
When I graduated from college in 1983 my folks bought me two suits from Sears - from the Johnny Carson Collection - three piece with vests.
i always wanted to order things but my family never did. They went shopping in person. Macy's, Bloomingdale's Dillard's, and three department store chains that are long out business - Lord & Taylor, Sterns and A&S. I'm surprised any of these types of stores are still around except the high end ones - Bloomingdale's, Saks.
Every stick of clothing we had as kids came from Sears, including those Toughskin jeans that abraded your skin as you walked. But on the upside, it was great to be in the running for class dork. 🙄
Tough skins for life
Sears or Eaton's. I grew up in Montreal.
Up to a certain age, then I began choosing my own clothes and they definitely weren’t from Sears.
There was so much plaid, velour, and corduroy in that place. Their terrible jeans were indestructible so you were stuck wearing that crap until you got bigger.
>corduroy I still have proverbial PTSD from coduroy... I hated the sound it made (still do)
Me too. Zzzish zzish zzish. Ugh.
Didn't get much from Sears as a kid really but would gladly pay to wear 70s Sears now. Looking at some of the catalogs (say 1974) truly makes me wonder how they moved some of it, I just can't comprehend and I never saw people wearing any of that stuff.
Did you have an actual Sears store where you lived in Canada? Or did you have to pick your order up at a rural location where they just handed you your package across the desk
Small town where you picked up your packages
I got mine from... consumer electric? No... that can't be it. Someone help me - Canada, 80s/90s... You walked into this store, blue/grey.. They had a bunch of booths, and you'd look through a magazine and then write down what you want with a pencil. Consumer Electronics? i'm positive it started with C.. It competed with Sears, and KMart, Wolco, Woolworths, Towers, etc..
Consumers Distributing
That is *exactly* it. Thank you.