A Catalog of Catalogs - Sears, 1993

1993 Sears Roebuck Spring/Summer Catalog

Last week, Sears announced another 60+ stores would soon be shuttered. But 25 years ago Sears seemed on top of the world. This 1993 catalog was ridiculously massive – over 1550 pages. By contrast, “War and Peace” was only 1225 pages! The index covered everything from abrasives to wrist weights. Inside you would find:

2 pages of remanufactured car engines
7 pages of ceiling fans
27 pages of home gym and fitness
35 pages of patio furniture and accessories
48 pages of major kitchen appliances
46 pages of women’s underthings
Over 100 pages (!) of bedding

And still that wasn’t enough! On pages 400-401 there were listings for 18 more Sears SPECIALTY catalogs, each available free to order. There were individual catalogs for mobile homes accessories, sports memorabilia, tools, toys, health care, specialty fashion for full figured women & big and tall men, and more. Sears no longer sold home kits or groceries, but it seems like everything else you could ask for was there. Was this not the Amazon of it’s day?

This was the final “Big Book” full line catalog Sears ever produced. So perhaps…less Amazon and more like the last of the dinosaurs – big, bulky, ungainly. And like small agile mammals, the specialty catalogs survived the extinction of the dinosaurs.