October 15, 2018

Last night Sears filed for Chapter XI bankruptcy. Started in 1886 by Richard Sears as R.W. Sears Watch Company, it transformed retailing. Sears developed an innovative distribution delivery system and mail order catalog that offered virtually any product, to anyone, anywhere in the United States. They accomplished this feat by leveraging the US Postal Service’s Rural Free Delivery program that connected the most remote parts of the US. Sears recognized the opportunity to re-imagine retailing as a national versus a local business. In many ways, they started out like the Amazon of its day and then followed with retail stores across the country to become the Walmart as well. Continue reading →