Christmas Past....

Pamela Tracy here...

This past Saturday my husband and I went to Sears.  We actually shop there somewhat often... obviously not often enough.

We'd heard that a few Sears stores were closing.  But, we didn't realize OUR Sears store was closing.


Change is inevitable.  When I was a young teen, going to the mall was the thing to do.  My girlfriends and I would spend hours going to stores, then converging on the food court, and ending with the theator.

But, Sears, well, that's a different entity.

It goes back to my early childhood.

Omaha is not a small town in Nebraska. It's the biggest town in Nebraska and where I grew up.  Still, it's small compared to where I live now: Phoenix.

Back then, we lived at the edge of a urban neighborhood. Behind us was rural.  If I went left, there was a cornfield.  If I went straight, there was a creek and a cemetery.  If I went right, there was a horse ranch.  In front of us, was the city.

My parents had two favorite stores:  Kmart and Sears.

Kmart was the neighborhood store, but we had to drive a ways to get to Sears.

Sears was smarter back then.  The minute we walked through the front doors, the toy department was to the right.  It was an easy turn.  My dad was all about the tools.  They were very close to the toys, meaning Dad could meandor off.  Mom always wanted to head up the escalator and to the clothes.

Back then, I didn't care about clothes.  Nope, it was all toys.

When I was ten, Christmas time, I wanted a Beautiful Chrissie doll.  Oh, how I wanted it.

We went to Sears, probably for tools but maybe so my parents could get an idea of what else I wanted besides Chrissie since she'd been the only item on my list.


The Chrissie dolls were (all hundred of her) stacked on an aisle display.  I did the ten-year-old whine. "Mom, isn't she beautiful.  Oh, can't I have her?  I want her so badly.  She'll..."  Well, you get the idea.  My parents tried to be patient.  They reasoned, "We don't have the money right now."  Eventually, I was seriously reprimanded and silenced.

Of course, I didn't know that a Chrissie doll was at home, wrapped, and hidden.

I'm an excellent whiner (unfortunately, my 13-year-old inherited this ability).  Once I'd been silenced, an older woman approached my mother and offered to buy the doll for me.

I got in a lot of trouble when I got home (Next Heartwarming title:  Grounded for Christmas and not about coffee!)

The Sears of my youth was a vibrant, happy store.  I confess, the Sears we go to - the one closing down - hasn't had that vibe in a long time.  Most of the time I had to go hunt a check-out person, and most of the time, I had to correct the amount charged because sales items were never correctly marked.  Oh, and there's not a toy department at all at my current Sears.

Maybe it's memories, like going to Sears, that make us reach for small-town romances.  It's the yearning for going through the drive thru teller at the bank and having your small child recieve a lollypop from the teller whose name you know and who knows your name.

Maybe it's the front porch neighbors or the waitress who knows what you want to drink before you even sit at her station.

As for me, I'm going to go look for a department store Santa, and I'm going to load my family up in the car and drive through neighborhoods looking at decorations.  Change happens and it's up to us to make memories for 'now.'

Guess I don't need Sears for that.

But, I'll miss them.

Do you have a store you miss?


Comments

  1. Borders bookstore. I miss it terribly. Great article, Pam. Sears brings back good memories for me to as do Woolworths and Grant's Five and Dime. Grounded for Life - that sounds interesting.

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  2. Howdy Jan :) I was thinking of Woolworths and Brandise too as I wrote the article. I don't think we had Grants in Omaha. Do you remember going to the mall and shopping in the little B. Daltons. I always loved bookstores in the mall

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  3. Oh, Sears! I grew up in a much smaller place than Omaha and there wasn't a Sears store for 100 miles. But we did get the catalog every year. My brother and I spent hours looking through the catalog and dreaming of all the things we wanted but would never get because our family couldn't afford it. I know times change, but it still makes me sad. :(

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    1. I think it is so cool that at one time you could order a house from Sears :)

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  4. When I was growing up we had Yellow Front, called Arizona's General Store. Great place where a person could find everything from fishing tackle to pajamas and underwear to school supplies under one roof.

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    1. I remember Yellow Front (live in AZ now). I was always amazed that they went out of business. They were always busy.

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  5. The Sears store near me closed a couple of months ago--it was, as you say, uninspiring to begin with and not like the Sears of past eras. I miss B. Dalton, too, although I once had a book signing in the store near me in Asheville for one of my nonfiction books. I had more people asking for directions to the restroom than asking about the book! That's why I like group book signings a lot better than solo ones.

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    1. I keep hoping that as the big stores disappear, neighborhood stores will reappear. I'd be willing to pay a bit more in order to get personal attention :)

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  6. I had a baby Chrissie doll! I loved being able to pull her pony tail to make her hair grow. Our Sears is still open. I remember when the Foley's where I lived when I was a teen was bought out by Sears. What I really miss is having a big bookstore nearby...the kind with a coffee shop inside and places to sit. Our BAM did expand a little but it's not big enough for the works. Your next book sounds intriguing!

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    1. Beautiful Chrissie is the only doll I remember really wanting. I also had a Mrs. Beasley when I was real little. I still have a big bookstore nearby and love it.

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  7. I always love your posts, Pam, and this one is great. I miss the Carson's that closed near us last year. I did all my Christmas shopping there and now I'm out of whack without my "store". The Sears closed 2 years ago. That's where I got my car fixed. Sigh. Sad.
    And I really miss the Majerick's Readers World book store and Hallmark store near me that closed 3 years ago. THAT is hard to take. The world is changing by the day. I'm trying to get used to so many new places.. you know? Merry Christmas!

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    1. You got me thinking. I didn't even think to miss Halmark Stores, but now I do. I loved them because they usually had a post office inside.

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  8. Aww, I feel sorry for your parents, and for you. It's soooo hard to wait, especially when you're a child.

    Like LeAnne, I miss the Sears catalog, where I could look through and dog-ear the pages I wanted. Remember how each item had a weight listed and you figured your postage by weight. Sometimes if they didn't have what you ordered, they'd substitute something else for your approval. Usually not as good, but once in a while it was a nice surprise.

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    1. I didn't know about the weight listed. How cool. Back then, people had to do math! LOL. Did you ever have anything substituted?

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  9. Pam, Our Sears store closed, too. As has our Borders. K-Mart is hanging on. As a kid we only had the Sears catalog and Montgomery Ward. Those were our go-to shopping places in my small Oregon town.

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    1. I have no idea where the nearest Kmart is now. I truly miss Borders.

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  10. Definitely miss Borders!

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  11. I loved the Borders closest to me. I did a signing at one that wasn't close and had a horrible experience. I don't think the manager liked books. How can you not like books?

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  12. Great post, Pam! I miss having more bookstores, Walden Books, B. Dalton, Borders, etc. And Woolworth. I did love that Sears catalogue. I never got anything from it, but a girl can dream. And dream I did. Lol.

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    1. I'm not sure we ever got anything from it either. But, we did get ideas.

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  13. I remember visiting Santa at Sears when I was a kid. That Sears just closed. So sad.

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    1. I'm trying to remember if Santa was at Sears. Our Sears was at a mall, pretty sure he was near the food court :)

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  14. Kmart just closed in the nearest "big" town and Sears is on its way out. It's sad to lose Sears, such an iconic American store, but they've been shrinking for a long time now. I'm not much of a shopper, neither closure will really effect me. If the hardware or feed store closed, I'd have a nervous breakdown. A tiny new bookstore just opened up in town, quite exciting! Does anyone remember Marshals?

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    1. Kmarts have been gone a long time in my neighborhood. The last one went out when my son was just a toddler. People would always tell me I had too many toys for one kid, but really, I went to Kmart on it's last day and they were dirt cheap. I'd rather have kept the Kmart than got the deals. Now there's a Lowes there.

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  15. I loved Sears. My boys grew up in Toughskins and I've had more Kenmore appliances than you can shake a stick at. I also love remembering... Thanks, Pam.

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    1. Oh, oh, you gave me an idea for my next blog. Thanks, Liz.

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