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Best Buy Ejects Its Discs
A Sears-ious Story of Retail Requiem
The Déjà Digest
February 19, 2024
Background: Dust off your Lord of the Rings box set and pour one out for physical media. Best Buy has announced that it will stop selling DVDs this year. The electronics giant’s exit leaves Wal-Mart and Target as the top U.S. retailers with a brick and mortar presence still selling the discs.
A major retailer abandoning a physical icon of its existence. Haven't we seen this movie before?
Deja Vu: Once the cornerstone of American consumerism, the Sears Catalog was more than just a booklet; it was a beacon of the American Dream, delivered right to your doorstep. Beginning in the late 19th century, the Sears Catalog offered everything from socks to automobiles. (And according to our List today, some pretty strange stuff in between).
However, in a move that marked the end of an era, Sears closed the book on its iconic catalog in 1993.
The Sears catalog was Amazon-before-Amazon, delivering the world to America's doorstep. Its cessation was not just the end of a service, but a signpost of the digital commerce horizon. Today, Best Buy's move away from DVDs is a nod to the dominance of streaming services. About two decades after its catalog ended, Sears declared bankruptcy.
Is this move by Best Buy a canary in its retail coal mine? Or just a savvy movie by a company adjusting to the times?
Fact Catalog
1931 was the first and only year paid advertisement appeared in the catalog. There was one for Chevrolet motor vehicles and another for the Curtis Publishing Company.
Edgar Rice Burroughs worked for Sears. Lauren Bacall, Susan Hayward, Gloria Swanson, Susan Dey, Cheryl Tiegs, and Stephanie Powers all appeared on the pages of Sears catalogs as models.
Sears always tried to keep its catalog a little thinner than Montgomery Ward’s. The logic behind this move: when housewives straightened up, they’d put the bigger, thicker Montgomery Ward catalog under the Sears catalog, leaving the Sears catalog face up on top of the pile.1
Trivia Question:
Which famous American artist had his work appear on two covers of the Sears catalog, once in 1927 and again in 1932?
List: All This and Free Shipping?
Guns: Leveraging the advantages of Rural Free Delivery and tapping into the spirit of America's westward expansion, Sears made firearms available to all. Whether it was a Remington .22 for $17.95 or a Winchester for $98.89, anyone could order these firearms directly to their doorstep.
Tombstones: In a bid to offer everything a customer might need, Sears once included tombstones in its catalog. The “Best Dark Barre Granite Sarcophagus,” started at $113.87 ($3,750 today).
Kit Homes: Between 1908 and 1940, Sears sold about 70,000 to 75,000 kit homes through their catalog. These homes came with all the necessary materials and blueprints, revolutionizing home buying and building for Americans.
Heidelberg Electric Belt: This isn't just any belt; it's a gateway to a renewed self, equipped with a cutting-edge “sack suspensory” designed to reawaken your vigor and manhood. Electricity was once thought to cure all sorts of things, and for just $18, men could strap on the belt and give their system a shock.
Number: 90%
At its peak the Sears Catalog was estimated to reach 90% of U.S. households.
Profile: General Robert Wood
General Robert E. Wood was a pivotal figure in the transformation of Sears, Roebuck & Co. from a mail-order catalog company into a retail powerhouse with brick-and-mortar stores across the United States. His military background, including service in the Spanish-American War and World War I, deeply influenced his strategic and organizational skills, which he later applied to the business world.
After joining Sears in 1924, Wood recognized the potential of expanding into retail stores, a visionary move at a time when the catalog business was the company's backbone. Under his leadership, Sears opened its first retail store in 1925, laying the groundwork for what would become one of the largest chains of department stores in the country.
From 1924 to 1954, the thirty years in which Wood ran day-to-day operations, revenues rose from just over $200 million to almost $3 billion2
Recommended Reading: Browse a digitized Sears catalog from the turn of the century.
Trivia Answer: Norman Rockwell
(Not and Ad): Etsy: Once upon a time, the Sears Catalog brought the magic of endless possibilities into our homes, offering everything from the practical to the whimsical. Today, Etsy carries on that legacy by connecting you with a world of unique, handmade, and vintage treasures that tell a story.
Discover artisans and craftsmen who pour their hearts into creating one-of-a-kind items that resonate with the spirit of innovation and creativity.
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