WHEN RICHARD W. SEARS started a mail-order catalog business in 1888 with Alvah C. Roebuck, it sold only watches and jewelry. More than 150 years later, their time has stopped, for now at least: on Oct. 15, Sears, once America’s top retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The catalog, which TIME once called “America’s family album,” launched during the golden age of railroads. That technology helped Sears provide customers with goods ranging from appliances to clothing—and, at one point, 35 lb. of gumdrops for $1.65. As cities and chains grew, Sears again took advantage of the changes, opening its first store, in Chicago, in 1925. As the economy boomed after World War II, so did Sears, which had more than 700 locations by the mid-1950s.
But nimble competition…
