Circa-1897
In 1886, Richard Warren Sears established the R.W. Sears Watch Company in a former railroad station, in North Redwood, Minnesota. In 1887, he moved operations to Chicago and hired Alvah Curtis Roebuck as a watch repairman. The first mail-order catalog was issued in 1887, with the Sears Roebuck & Company moniker being established in 1893.
Photo from Sears, Roebuck & Company Annual Report 1940
The North Redwood railroad station, in Minnesota, housed the original R.W. Sears Watch Company.
Drawing from Sears, Roebuck & Company Annual Report 1940
Alvah Curtis Roebuck (1864-1948) hailed from Tippecanoe County, Indiana. He was hired by Richard Sears to repair watches and eventually became a co-founder of the Sears enterprise.
Photo from Sears, Roebuck & Company Annual Report 1940
Soon after the turn of the century, Sears followed Montgomery Ward's lead by establishing an unconditional money-back guarantee. Between 1908 and 1920, business increased six-fold, outstripping Montgomery Ward, by then Sears' primary competitor.
To facilitate Sears' burgeoning mail order business, a national network of Merchandise Buildings was established. Each of these distribution plants eventually housed a Sears Retail Department Store. The first opened, at the Chicago Merchandise Building, on February 2, 1925.
A Kansas City Merchandise Building was dedicated on September 20, 1925. In total area, it covered 1,500,000 square feet, with the Retail Department Store encompassing 2 levels and 98,000. Said store sold "anything from a paper of pins to a $10,000 residence." On the second floor was a full-size model home, complete with furnishings from the Sears Catalog.
Circa-1921
Sears' first Retail Department Store opened in February 1925. It was installed in the company's Merchandise Building headquarters & distribution center, in Chicago. By late 1925, there were also Sears Merchandise Building plants in Kansas City, Dallas and Seattle.
Photo from Sears, Roebuck & Company
Graphic from Sears, Roebuck & Company