In the 1880s, the country was ripe: for the first time, railroads and free postal delivery reached every community. After his father lost the family fortune and died, Richard Sears went to work at 16 as a railroad bellman. Everything changed when a jeweler refused a shipment of watches, and he bought them instead, selling them to other porters for a tidy profit. By the age of 24, he was rich.

His catalog, written in friendly, approachable language, taught America how to shop, but more essentially, it taught us how to want, with a bottomless thirst for acquisition—taught us that shopping could be entertainment, a vehicle for self-invention.

We look back on the country store with nostalgia—a symbol of a simpler, slower time, when people gathered, shared news, and purchased a few essentials. But the country store was limited and expensive, with markups of 100% or more. There wasn’t much on offer. The merchant held the credit, and he decided what, and when, customers were allowed to buy. Even if shoppers realized they wanted more—that there was more to want—their local store was the only option.

The Sears Catalog changed that forever. Whatever disruptions we observe with Amazon or Walmart before it, Sears was there long before, inventing consumerism as a way of living, offering an abundant national marketplace, a marvel of choice and speed, to every American. For nearly a century, its book of wishes dominated our dreams and desires, a window onto a larger world.

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Special thanks to Steve Satterwhite for suggesting the Sears Catalog.

Links:

• Sears Stores Could Be Consigned To History As Final Five Face Closure – Mark Faithfull, Inc., January 2, 2026

  
  

• Sears Went From Gilded-Age Boom to Digital-Age Bankruptcy – Tiffany Hsu, The New York Times, October 15, 2018

This post is part of The American 250, a series featuring 250 objects made by Americans, located in America, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary. 250 words on 250 works, from January 1 to December 31, 2026.

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