When did Sears outpace Montgomery Ward?
Sears and his colleague, watchmaker Alvah C. Roebuck, eventually moved far beyond watches, and, by the 1890s, Sears was beginning to outpace Montgomery Ward. Still, both were sizable at this point—and were about to become even bigger, thanks to the federal government at the time.
Who did Sears compete with in the early 1900s?
In 1896, Wards encountered its first serious competition in the mail order business, when Richard Warren Sears introduced his first general catalog. In 1900, Wards had total sales of $8.7 million, compared to $10 million for Sears, and both companies struggled for dominance during much of the 20th century.
Did the founder of Montgomery Ward respond to customer letters?
Even the founder of Montgomery Ward & Co., Aaron Montgomery Ward, responded personally to customer letters. Such correspondence might seem quaint today, but those messages were a serious sales strategy. The Montgomery Ward's Catalog for 1916. For many rural consumers, mail-order catalogs seemed risky.
Who was the president of Montgomery Ward in 1961?
In 1961, company president John Barr hired Robert Elton Brooker to lead Montgomery Ward as president in its turnaround. Brooker brought with him a number of key new management people, including Edward Donnell, former manager of Sears' Los Angeles stores.
Did Sears Buy Montgomery Ward?
Sears also purchased Wards' entire inventory of repair and replacement parts and accessories.
What were Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward?
Montgomery Ward and Sears, both based in Chicago, were the leaders of the early mail-order industry and became giant enterprises through catalog sales long before they began to open retail stores.
Who started Montgomery Wards?
Aaron Montgomery WardMontgomery Ward / FounderAaron Montgomery Ward was an American entrepreneur based in Chicago who made his fortune through the use of mail order for retail sales of general merchandise to rural customers. In 1872 he founded Montgomery Ward & Company, which became nationally known. Wikipedia
How did Montgomery Ward get started?
Ward started his business at his first office, either in a single room at 825 North Clark Street or in a loft above a livery stable on Kinzie Street, between Rush and State Streets. In 1883, the company's catalog, which became popularly known as the "Wish Book", had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items.
Who was the first mail-order business?
Hammacher Schlemmer is the earliest still surviving mail-order business, established by Alfred Hammacher in New York City in 1848. Offering mechanic's tools and builder's hardware, its first catalogue was published in 1881.
What was the first mail-order catalog?
The first Montgomery Ward catalog was produced on August 18, 1872. And while many businesses were already publishing mail order catalogs, it was Aaron Montgomery Ward that is credited for producing the first mail order catalog meant for the general public. By 1904, 3,000,000 customers were on the catalog mailing list.
Who started Sears?
Alvah Curtis RoebuckRichard Warren SearsJulius RosenwaldSears/Founders
When was Sears founded?
1893, Chicago, ILSears / Founded
When did Montgomery Wards start?
1872Montgomery Ward / FoundedMontgomery Ward & Co., American e-commerce company that offers such general merchandise as furniture, tools, home appliances, and clothing. It was founded in Chicago in August 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward as a mail-order business. Headquarters are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Why was Montgomery Wards called Monkey Wards?
Montgomery Ward was called “Monkey Wards” by some people because it reportedly once offered exotic monkeys in some of its stores and through its mail-order catalog. Today, the store's website features a Monkey Wards page where customers can shop and place orders for many of the retailer's popular items.
Are there any Montgomery Wards left?
Montgomery Ward is still in business as an online retailer, after being relaunched as an online company in 2004. Montgomery Ward started as a mail-order catalog company in 1872, became popular with catalogs and brick-and-mortar retail stores during the 1900s, and evolved into an online retailer in the early 2000s.
When did Montgomery Ward stop making appliances?
Long known for its discount retail stores and its mail order catalog, Montgomery Ward fell on hard times and went out of business in 2000.
Where did Montgomery Ward start?
Company origins. Montgomery Ward was founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872. Ward had conceived of the idea of a dry goods mail-order business in Chicago, Illinois, after several years of working as a traveling salesman among rural customers.
What was the Montgomery Ward?
In 2004, catalog marketer Direct Marketing Services Inc. (DMSI), an Iowa-based direct marketing company, purchased much of the intellectual property assets of the former Wards, including the "Montgomery Ward" and "Wards" trademarks, for an undisclosed amount.
Why did Sewell Avery not open any stores?
After World War II, Sewell Avery believed the country would fall back into a recession or even a depression. He decided to not open any new stores, and did not even permit expenditure for paint to freshen the existing stores. His plan was to bank profits to preserve liquidity when the recession or depression hit, and then buy up his retail competition. However, without new stores or any investment back into the business, Montgomery Ward declined in sales volume compared to Sears; many have blamed the conservative decisions of Avery, who seemed to not understand the changing economy of the postwar years. As new shopping centers were built after the war, Sears was perceived to have gotten better locations than Wards. Nonetheless, for many years Wards was still the nation's third-largest department store chain.
What is the Montgomery Ward catalog house?
The building, known as the Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalog House, served as the company headquarters until 1974, when the offices moved across the street to a new tower designed by Minoru Yamasaki. The catalog house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978 and a Chicago historic landmark in May 2000.
How many units are there in Jefferson Ward?
Within 18 months, management quintupled the size of the operation, now called Jefferson Ward, to more than 40 units and planned to convert one-third of Montgomery Ward's existing stores to the Jefferson Ward model.
When did Mobil buy Montgomery Ward?
Mobil, flush with cash from the recent rise in oil prices, acquired Montgomery Ward in 1976.
When did Montgomery Ward start selling electronics?
In 1987, the company began a push into consumer electronics, opening stand alone "Electric Avenue" stores. Montgomery Ward greatly expanded its electronics presence by shifting from a predominantly private label mix to an assortment dominated by major brands such as Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, Panasonic, JVC, and others.
Who was the manager of Sears?
Under the managerial leadership of Gen. Robert E. Wood, who had formerly worked with mail-order competitor Montgomery Ward, Sears initiated a rapid expansion outside of urban centers. By 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression, it operated more than 300 department stores.
When was Sears founded?
The company was founded as a modest mail-order retailer of watches in the 1880s by Richard W. Sears and Alvah C. Roebuck.
What is the role of Sears in the economy?
It played a key role in the diffusion of mass consumer culture and commercial values. For better and for worse, Sears is a symbol of American capitalism.
What did Sears teach Americans?
“We solicit honest criticism more than orders," the 1908 catalog stated, emphasizing customer satisfaction above all else. Sears taught Americans how to shop. Sears also demonstrated how to run a business.
What business did Sears move into?
Sears moved into insurance and financial services. Its credit card business, for example, accounted for 60 percent of its profits at the turn of the 21 st century. In 2003, however, it tried returning to its retail core, selling its credit and financial business to Citigroup for $32 billion.
How many Sears stores were there in the 1950s?
In the United States, the number of Sears stores passed 700 by the mid-1950s. The firm also expanded across the borders north and south, opening its first Mexico City store in 1947 and moving into Canada in 1952 (incorporating with a Canadian mail-order firm to become Simpson-Sears). Sears benefited from being a pioneer chain in a landscape ...
How old is Sears?
The lifetime of Sears has spanned and embodied the rise of modern American consumer culture. The 130-year-old mass merchandiser that was once the largest retailer in the United States is part of the fabric of American society. From its start as a 19th-century mail-order firm, to its heyday on Main Street and in suburban malls, ...
How many homes did Sears sell in 1908?
All the parts arrived (usually by train) precut and ready to assemble. From 1908 to 1940, Sears sold between 70,000 to 75,000 homes.
Who wrote the Sears catalog?
Richard Sears, who wrote almost all of the catalog’s copy himself until his retirement in 1908, held to the motto “We Can’t Afford to Lose a Customer,” making sure that Sears stayed competitive in terms of price and value.
What was the first Christmas catalog?
1950s Unlimited/Flickr Creative Commons/CC BY 2.0. Sears issued its first Christmas catalog in 1933, featuring such must-have items as a Mickey Mouse watch, a Lionel electric train set, a “Miss Pigtails” doll and live singing canaries.
How much was Sears worth in 1906?
When Sears first sold stock to the public in 1906, the company was worth some $40 million, with close to $50 million in annual sales and around 9,000 employees. That same year, it built a distribution complex in Chicago with some 3 million square feet of floor space.
When did Sears go online?
In 1998, the Sears Christmas catalog went online for the first time at Wishbook.com, a year before the Sears.com website was launched. Despite a brief return to profitability after a merger with Kmart in 2005, Sears continued to struggle.
When did Sears start selling watches?
Sears started with watches. The cover of Sears, Roebuck and Co. Consumer's Guide, No.110 circa 1900. The story of Sears begins in 1886, when a railroad station agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota named Richard Sears started selling gold watches at $14 apiece.
When did Sears close its catalog?
In 1993, Sears announced it was closing its catalog division, bringing to an end a storied era of mail-order bargain-hunting and wish fulfillment that had begun nearly a century earlier. Sears Tower sold in 1994, and the following year, Amazon.com shipped its first book. In 1998, the Sears Christmas catalog went online for ...
What did Ward do with the Sears catalog?
The Sears catalog for 1900. Ward also sensed opportunity to build a relationship through the mail. He included photographs of his top executives in the catalog, as well as buyers for specific departments so that customers would know to whom they were writing.
What was Montgomery Ward's monthly newsletter?
The customer letters to Montgomery Ward & Co. employees, unbeknownst to the writers, were regularly published in the company's monthly employee newsletter, Among Ourselves. The most silly, touching, and notable letters were included. The newsletter editor admitted to shedding a few tears when an Ohio boy with amputated limbs wrote and asked if he could work for the company to pay off a toy purchase.
Why did Sears catalogs show photos?
The Sears catalog showed customers photographs of its warehouses and offices in order to make the company seem more familiar. Letters from the catalog company were a lifeline for many customers. In 1900, every state west of the Mississippi River had a population density of less than 25 people per square mile of land.
Did Richard Warren Sears handwrite?
Although Richard Warren Sears was not known for sending out the letters that Ward did, Sears insisted his employees handwrite notes instead of using a typewriter— some customers were offended to receive a letter that came from a machine. The Sears catalog for 1900.
Overview
Original Montgomery Ward (1872–2001)
Ward started his business at his first office, either in a single room at 825 North Clark Street or in a loft above a livery stable on Kinzie Street, between Rush and State Streets.
In 1883, the company's catalog, which became popularly known as the "Wish Book", had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items. In 1896, Wards encountered …
As online retailer
The original Montgomery Ward was one of the biggest retailers in the United States. After its demise, the familiarity of its brand meant its name, corporate logo, and advertising were considered valuable intangible assets. In 2004, catalog marketer Direct Marketing Services Inc. (DMSI), an Iowa direct marketing company, purchased much of the intellectual property assets of the former Wards, including the "Montgomery Ward" and "Wards" trademarks, for an undisclose…
See also
• Montgomery Ward Building (disambiguation)
• Montgomery Ward Company Complex
Further reading
• Boorstin, Daniel J. (1973). "A. Montgomery Ward's Mail-Order Business". Chicago History. Vol. 2, no. 3. pp. 142–152.
• Latham, Frank B. (1972). 1872–1972: A Century of Serving Consumers. The Story of Montgomery Ward.
External links
• Official website
• Christmas Catalogs and Holiday Wishbooks (Website) – Dozens of Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalogs.