In the olden days before Wal-Mart

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I found a site with the 1961 Montgomery Ward catalog. The cover is here and from there you can see sample pages. All sorts of innovations like shop by phone (no online shopping then).

A bit of nostalgia for those who remember & some cultural history for those who don’t.

Btw, the fashions are a hoot, though I hope no photos of me wearing bell bottoms and turtle necks in high school survive.
 
didymus said:
I found a site with the 1961 Montgomery Ward catalog. The cover is here and from there you can see sample pages. All sorts of innovations like shop by phone (no online shopping then).

A bit of nostalgia for those who remember & some cultural history for those who don’t.

Btw, the fashions are a hoot, though I hope no photos of me wearing bell bottoms and turtle necks in high school survive.
Click to expand...
 
didymus said:
I found a site with the 1961 Montgomery Ward catalog. The cover is here and from there you can see sample pages. All sorts of innovations like shop by phone (no online shopping then).

A bit of nostalgia for those who remember & some cultural history for those who don’t.

Btw, the fashions are a hoot, though I hope no photos of me wearing bell bottoms and turtle necks in high school survive.
Click to expand...
Cute fashions and every one of them MODEST !!! Thanks.
 
I was employed at a Sears catalog distribution warehouse in Los Angeles for 10 years. Then Sears discontinued the catalog division and so many workers got laid off in 1992. My employee discount sure came in handy many times back then. Those were the days. I remember Builder’s Emporium, Zody’s, The Akron, Sav-On, Woolworth and Newberry’s. In the L.A. area there’s now Target, Home Depot, Wal-mart, Costco, Walgreen’s, CVS and OSH. I still see Sears and K-Marts around L.A.
 
Bringing back memories, ehh? 😉

I am barely 31 years (as of September 2014), and I still remember when I was a very young child looking together with my siblings at Service Merchandise and other catalogs for the Christmas presents we hoped to receive. 🙂
 
Does anyone remember “S&H” Greenstamps? You got so many when you bought groceries from Win Dixie Kwick Check. I remember getting my first tackle box and fishing rod with those.

Even back then, the cloths from Sears didn’t hold up, so we didn’t go there often. They didn’t carry Levis either, and I have worn nothing but them all my life [and L.L. Bean]
Then there was Roses. The 5 and dime. We went on vacation quite a bit when I was young. Some friends of my family had a beach house on the gulf. They had a party line for the telephone, anyone remember those? If I was bored I tried to pickup the phone and eavesdrop and the old ladies called me on it every time!

The color TV was downstairs at home and everyone else had black and whit TVs. There were three channels. Then came Ted Turner and channel 13, later to become CNN etc.
On Friday nights Channel 13 [was it just Atlanta back then?] there was “Friday Night Frights” and they played old black and white horror movies. The host was a vampire with those fake plastic teeth and half the time he was drunk. I could tell as a kid.

Fun consisted of board games, card games, tag, and football. TV sitcoms were great back then. Mary Tyler Moore, Hogans Heroes. Life was pretty good.
 
Aaron Montgomery Ward turned the copy writing over to department heads.
However, he continued going over every detail in the catalog for accuracy.
 
I remember my mother getting both the Sear’s and Montgomery Wards catalogues. I liked looking at them.

I liked shopping at the five and dime stores.
Especially liked to buy my new Barbie clothes there.
 
This is a good thread. I was trying to remember where I got most of the camping equipment that I used in Boy Scouts, and realized that I’d ordered it via the Wards? Penny? catalog. I’d ride my bike downtown, go to the store that was the ordering place, and fill out the form there, and then return to pick it up.

Sears quality was excellent value for the price. Wal-Mart’s standards are lower than the standards that most folks had in 1975. We used to expect toasters to last a few years, instead of one or two years.

And of course we all remember the catalogue boom of the 1980s: Lands End, LL Bean, etc., etc.; a lot of these were actually interesting in themselves.
 
Captain_America said:
This is a good thread. I was trying to remember where I got most of the camping equipment that I used in Boy Scouts, and realized that I’d ordered it via the Wards? Penny? catalog. I’d ride my bike downtown, go to the store that was the ordering place, and fill out the form there, and then return to pick it up.

Sears quality was excellent value for the price. Wal-Mart’s standards are lower than the standards that most folks had in 1975. We used to expect toasters to last a few years, instead of one or two years.

And of course we all remember the catalogue boom of the 1980s: Lands End, LL Bean, etc., etc.; a lot of these were actually interesting in themselves.
Click to expand...
And we expected our toasters to be MADE IN AMERICA. Try and find one now that is made in America!!! Good Luck. God Bless, Memaw
 
Thank you for sharing this delightful link!!

I remember those Sears and Wards catalogs well (born in early 60’s). My cousin and I would cut out the pictures of the models and clothes and make paper dolls. Hours of fun!

When we went to her house, we used the Spiegel’s (sp?) catalog, which to me was the height of sophistication!!
 
esieffe said:
Does anyone remember “S&H” Greenstamps? You got so many when you bought groceries from Win Dixie Kwick Check. I remember getting my first tackle box and fishing rod with those.

Even back then, the cloths from Sears didn’t hold up, so we didn’t go there often. They didn’t carry Levis either, and I have worn nothing but them all my life [and L.L. Bean]
Then there was Roses. The 5 and dime. We went on vacation quite a bit when I was young. Some friends of my family had a beach house on the gulf. They had a party line for the telephone, anyone remember those? If I was bored I tried to pickup the phone and eavesdrop and the old ladies called me on it every time!

The color TV was downstairs at home and everyone else had black and whit TVs. There were three channels. Then came Ted Turner and channel 13, later to become CNN etc.
On Friday nights Channel 13 [was it just Atlanta back then?] there was “Friday Night Frights” and they played old black and white horror movies. The host was a vampire with those fake plastic teeth and half the time he was drunk. I could tell as a kid.

Fun consisted of board games, card games, tag, and football. TV sitcoms were great back then. Mary Tyler Moore, Hogans Heroes. Life was pretty good.
Click to expand...
I remember S&H Greenstamps from ‘up north’ (Cook County Illinois) and three channels on the TV and EIGHT on the party (phone) line ! ! ! 😃
 
Oh yeah,

I used to love looking through those huge catalogs. I agree with whoever said that Spiegel’s used to be one of the top-of-the-line catalogs.

I think that Penney’s was one of the last, large catalogs to go.

I have some very happy memories of shopping with one of my Grandmothers at some of these stores.

She used to love going to the “dime stores,” and Sears was one of her favorite stores. She and I would go shopping all of the time together. Lots of happy memories. As she got older, I used to carry her packages for her. We had lots of fun together. 🙂
 
Honestly, I don’t think Wal*Mart is all that great. It’s all right, like for looking for household items and accessories, but in my opinion they have nothing for clothes. They have nice bathroom and kitchen ware, and, of course, convenience things. I like other stores better.
 
I remember Green Stamps. We also had Plaid Stamps.

I miss the old Sears catalog; it was such fun paging through it. I have some facsimile editions of late 1800s and early 1900s Sears catalogs. I wish I could order stuff at those prices today!

Regarding WalMart clothes, sometimes I find things I really like there, but then I can go months without seeing anything I like. I have no problem with the quality; I have WalMart clothing that is at least 10 years old, and still in great condition. With clothing (at least adult clothing), it’s all about knowing how to launder the garments to make them last. 🙂
 
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