Long ago, the only people to order "out of a catalog" were people stuck on farms and ordered from the Sears catalog. That was considered a disadvantage because you couldn't see the item beforehand. Now people PREFER doing essentially the same thing!!
Hardly the case over much of the U.S... Ordering from the many fashion catalogs was a blessing decades ago because it meant one didn't have to stand in line, or be subjected to horrible store hours. Remember when many stores were only open from around 10am to 4pm Monday - Thursday and often shorter hours on Friday and closed on the weekends? You could forget shopping on Sunday.
There wasn't much to see on a many dress patterns, hosiery, kitchen ware, or the many known items that people were familiar with anyway, not unlike today. Catalogs sold many things that one didn't need to see in person before buying.... and I know I was more than thankful for them (warm smile).
I don't know what one would consider "long ago" but at my age it was long enough! I grew up and lived on Long Island for about 57 years, hardly a place one would equate with being "stuck on a farm". It's small area that now has close to 2 1/2 million people living there.
They sold a LOT more stuff than that. The catalog was 2 inches thick on thin paper. They had everything from guns to pre-fab log cabins.
They sure did - Kids all around the U.S. would use multiple thick catalogs as step stools. Need to reach the cookie jar? 3rd tier of a book shelf? .... slide a few catalogs where you need them and you just created instant stairs. You're also right about how much was packed into those thick catalogs. Watches, swimwear, lingerie, minibikes, boats, mattresses, roofs.. Imagine the shipping costs for those corporations in addition to paying for entire catalog departments. Ouch. Today, it's all mostly online at a fraction of the price, with better sales performance.
There's a lot of truth in that statement. today If you're close to a distribution site (e.g. Amazon), you may even receive items a soon as 5 hours after the order was placed. Place an online order at 3am, and it's on your business steps before 9am.
We lived in Europe for most of the 1960s, probably my best and favorite growing up years. Sears and Roebuck (as it was called back then) shipped us a new 3" thick catalog five times a year, one for each season and one for Christmas. I spent a lot of time browsing baseball equipment and other things of interest to a young and teen boy.
I got a big smile out of that one!We lived in Europe for most of the 1960s, probably my best and favorite growing up years. Sears and Roebuck (as it was called back then) shipped us a new 3" thick catalog five times a year, one for each season and one for Christmas. I spent a lot of time browsing baseball equipment and other things of interest to a young and teen boy.
We were still deep in the Cold War in those years. My father used to say that if someone would gather up all those old Sears catalogs when they expired and drop them from B-52s onto Russia and Eastern Europe we could end the Cold War pretty quickly. It only took another 30 years or so . . .
Yes, very nice folks. It was always a pleasure to visit that place.
Where they better than the B&H or Adorama candies? (Not possibly worse).
Like Adorama.. sometimes the prices were better. Basically they're all retail.
Let's stick to the important subject...We're talking candy here, not prices.
Fair enough... I was never so lucky to have the opportunity to swing by the store and partake of the candy. Looks like I missed out! Hmm... would've been neat if they shipped a bit of candy to customers making online purchases, that way we could all get share a smile and get cavities together
