Make the Mall Great Again

Bill Maher asked why the Sears & Roebuck catalogue didn't catch on better. It came out in 1897. Perhaps this was part of the story? My mother liked to tell me the story how excited her family would get when the catalogue came in the mail when she was a young girl. They never ordered anything though. So why were they so excited for the arrival of the catalogue should be your next question. Well they put the catalogue in the outhouse. Those pages worked far superior to leaves and sticks.

 

You truly could buy anything from a Sears catalog 100 years ago. Our first home was a Sears kit home. Ours was “The Langston”. For those unfamiliar with them, you would order a kit, it would arrive by rail, and then the owner would assemble it by number.

 

Great deal. Good houses. Back then, you paid $2300 for the kit - the finished house would be worth $6,000. (True figures!)

 

Those catalogues were the "Amazon" of their time. But better. If you weren't a town-dweller, or none with any real array of stores was nearby, how else could you get clothes, household necessities, furniture etc.? A radio? A guitar? The goods weren't from China -- and they lasted. And you didn't need to pile up debt on a credit card. Sometimes, we go backwards when we try to go forward.

Those Catalogue Giants helped fuel the North American economy - instead of draining it, as happens today.

 

There are many things I would much rather purchase "in person." But so much of what land-based retailers offer is junk. For example, if I want to replace my ailing laptop, I can go to Best Buy and look at some junk. Or, I could read reviews at PC Magazine or CNet and then purchase the laptop at Amazon or even from the manufacturer (gasp!).

Please, retailers, give me every reason possible to come into your stores and consider your wares. (Like I did recently with both the Apple Watch and a replacement IPad Air. I did it for the customer service and the opportunity to ask questions and make distinctions around options.)

For example, I not-too-long-ago needed to purchase a desktop computer. I needed a fast processor and a dedicated graphics card. I went into Best Buy with the best of intentions. They simply could not offer a good product. (Essentially, I was seeking a gaming computer, even though I wanted it for video production.) I had to go instead to several OEMs to see what I could build. So, I did. But I very much would have preferred to work with an expert (like I did at the Apple Store). And I would have been fine with paying for the privilege. But no.

Seriously. Let me shop!

 

Where I am, there are two big "electronics retailers" similar to Best Buy. They're really the same company, shh...

If you want a television, great. Extremely huge department where you can go see the TVs in person (100+ models, I'd estimate). The prices are mostly reasonable.

But if you want anything else? The selection is tiny and expensive. The monitor selection isn't even 1/4th as much as the TVs. Granted, there isn't a lot of difference between a flatscreen monitor and a flatscreen TV these days, but there is enough of a difference that plenty of people still want actual monitors. Want an SSD? They have 2 or 3 from the same brand. Want a cheaper HDD? Too bad, there is 1 hybrid and no HDDs themselves. Cables to hook up your new monitor and computer? Anything outside the basic HDMI cable costs almost 10x what they do on Amazon (50+ in-store vs. 6 or 7 on Amazon). The basic HDMI cable is 2-3x what it is on Amazon (10-20 in-store vs. 5-7 on Amazon). This isn't just because of recent chip shortages or whatever either. It's been like this for years. The website allows you to order in some things that aren't normally offered in-store, but not much.

It's like they don't want you to shop there. It's baffling.

 

Most of the house was still original. The interior doors were original but someone painted them all white at some point. There were minor updates over the years. The major issue was the porch pillars. They kept shifting and sinking. We had to fix it - twice - in the 13 years we owned it. Finally we found a contractor who determined that they simply weren’t anchored deep enough. They completely took apart our porch brick by brick, dug deeper, poured cement and reassembled the porch. That dang porch cost us over $30,000 over time. We also found some interesting relics under the porch, like a Sea World drinking glass from the 1980’s.

 

That's a tough experience, Vicki. My sympathy, on the cost. The last house I had cost me about $30,000 to buy. I managed to sell it for a bit more. Still, that porch wouldn't appear to be the fault of Sears. Looks like a builder issue - not the kit itself. The foundation has to be right and you got to be the lucky person who had to make it right.

I notice all kinds of kit homes today. Some of them - log, cedar etc. appear really impressive. And you can customize. Prices are high, though. I think people buy those to get exactly what they want - not to save money. You don't find those kits at Sears.

As for relics - a friend from my working days had an interesting experience. He bought a house that had been owned by a retired dentist, who had died. John (my friend) was remodelling the basement and was tearing down an old ceiling. A tin box fell out and hit him on the head - nothing serious - a few scratches. In the box was $900 Canadian, $600 American. John figured it might have been the old man's poker stash.

 

Made in China?

 

I don't think Vicki's was. Up till 1980, Sea World glassware was mostly from Federal Glass Co. (Ohio) - or their new owner. Don't know, after 1980 when the plant was closed. Lots of interest in Sea World glasses on EBay etc.

 

Orca skin dried and stretched over whale bone.

Thank goodness for Blackfish.

 

This reminds me of a sad story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3146909/Pet-owner-shocked-two-puppies-bought-raised-two-years-actually-BEARS.html

When the story of a man raising two animals he thought were dogs that turned out to be bear cubs made the rounds, people laughed. When I learned that he had been sold the animals by a traveling salesman, and that he bathed them regularly and brushed their fur every single day, I realized that he probably really loved those babies and it must have been heartbreaking to have to turn them over to the government after years of taking good care of them.

 

"They also displayed strange behaviour, such as killing and eating Wang's pet chickens." I shudder to think what could have happened. Does Mr. Wang have kids?

 

I don't know. Two years is a very long time to go before realizing they were bears. According to their owner, it sorta crept up on him. They got huge. They were killing chickens and other animals. But when all the picnic baskets started disappearing....

(I hope I'm not offending a certain poster with that joke. Bears might be sacred on whatever planet he hails from.)

 

Well heck, I didn’t know that. Maybe the glass was actually from the 70’s. Mine was like this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/184767910212
I didn’t keep it, I left it with the house.

 

Yep - the ad for that one says "Federal Glass" right on it. AS do many other Ebay ads for similar items. And I'll confess - I didn't know ANY of this before today, either. They don't call me "Johann von Googleberg" for no reason!

 

And Malls....

Toto - Africa (playing in an empty shopping centre) - YouTube

 

Yep - and Steve Lukather - one of my first-tier Guitar heroes. He's incredible. Man has played on over 1.500 albums! Brilliant!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Lukather