Sears bankruptcy brings back good memories to customers, even if they have not shopped for a long time

Rick Smith said the catalog allowed his family to buy things that were difficult to obtain in Paris, Kentucky, a town of about 8,000 people about 30 kilometers from Lexington.

"We bought all of our Sears TVs and appliances, as well as most of the clothes we wore with my two brothers," he said. "Sears Christmas Wish Book was a favorite of our house, and I remember choosing some toys."

At the time, Sears had not shipped your purchases to your home. Your order would come to a local catalog store and they would call for you to pick it up.

"When you knew you had something really nice … I felt like it was an eternity to come!"

Smith also remembered saving in high school by buying dark suede and leather saddle shoes, so as to have a nice pair for speech tournaments.

He got his first credit card from Sears when he was in college because his father had told him that he needed to establish a credit.

Smith said that he was a taller than average young man, which was an added bonus: the store had a good and large selection.

"For many years, Sears Flexslax was my only way to dress in pants, and I also bought shirts and suits," Smith said.

Smith said he has not shopped at Sears for a while – his local mall store closed a few years ago – but he still feels a bit skeptical about the bankruptcy.

The arrival of the Christmas Wish Book was also a highly anticipated event for Alexina Navarro, her brother and sister. They would dutifully circle the things they wanted Santa to bring them, but Navarro and his sister were exhausted for clothes their friends would wear.

"The toy section of the catalog did not interest us," she said. "We desperately wanted to adapt to the clothing choices of our peers and not be ostracized."

Her mother made her clothes and Navarro said they did not look like what the other kids were wearing in the '60s and' 70s.

"We should have been thankful, but we did not do it.We did not enjoy going to the local fabric store and sorting out the patterns and clothes." We wanted to look like all others, "she said.

His mother tried to make outfits like those in the catalog, but they were not the same.

Navarro remembers that her mother had bought her a warm Sears winter coat because she was going to university in Portland, Oregon.

"My last purchase before leaving was a very shiny green wool coat that I had to choose myself!" she says.

His father taught him to drive in a Sears car park and, when his first used car needed brakes, "my father took me to the Sears Auto Shop to learn how to take care of those things like A tall girl.

Navarro is no longer shopping at Sears. She said she had some car batteries replaced over the years, but it's been a long time.

Daniel O'Donnell did what he called "the first major purchase of my young life" from the Sears catalog.

He saved his paper route's revenue for a year to get the $ 35 needed to purchase a 3-inch refractor telescope as well as an extra lens and filters. It was a lot of money for an 11 year old kid in 1968.

"When I was little, I was a" kid of space "," said O Donnell, adding that he liked building rocket models from NASA.

He is now dealing with information security for a company that makes next-generation satellites.

O 'Donnell said that his father worked for Sears when Allstate Insurance was part of the company. There was still shopping from time to time until last year, when the store in his town closed.