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3catwoman3

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32. When I was in high school (class of 1969), sears had really stylish and well made...

Thu Aug 7, 2025, 03:54 PM

Aug 7

...clothes. I'd spend hours poring over their catalog, picking out my ensembles. I still remember what some of the looked like. My dad worked for Allstate, which was part of the Sears family (or vice versa, I've forgotten which) so we got a 10% employee discount on everything. My depression-era born mother was very upset when Sears discontinued that discount many years later when the company's decline began.

Also, some purchases from local department stores in the greater Rochester (NY) area - E. W. Edwards, Sibleys, McCurdy's and Forman's. All really nice stores, on a par with Marshall Field, and all long gone.

Don't remember much about shoes, other than having trouble finding ones that fit well because of high arches.

I used to get hand-me-downs from my 2 older cousins, which was a treat as their mom had good taste. The older of the two topped out at 5'0'', and her sister at 5'4", so that came to a halt when I passed up both of them at 5'8".

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debm55

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It's back to school time, What store did you get your clothing and shoes at, that are no longer around. Mine were [View all] debm55 Aug 7 OP

Sears and Montgomery Wards sinkingfeeling Aug 7 #1

Thank you very much, sinkingfeeling. Yes, they were both great places to buy back to school clothing. By to both. debm55 Aug 7 #2

Gosh... when we were kids we called it Monkey Ward. FalloutShelter Aug 7 #29

HAHAHHAHAHAHHA, That is funny. I remember that. debm55 Aug 7 #51

Same. OldBaldy1701E Aug 7 #64

Thank you very much, OldBaldy1701E. debm55 Aug 7 #66

Sears anciano Aug 7 #3

Thank you very much, anciano. At one time Sears was the go to store for everyone. It's a shame what happened to it. debm55 Aug 7 #5

Sears and Kmart Americanme Aug 7 #4

Thank you Americanme---we always went to K-Mart for school supples. Sears was for holiday dresses. Shame they are are debm55 Aug 7 #7

This message was self-deleted by its author Midnight Writer Aug 7 #6

Thank you Midnight Writer. My cousins-one older and one younger, would pass the clothing down. I made some of my debm55 Aug 7 #10

Sears and Roebuck Dave in VA Aug 7 #8

Thank you Dave in VA. We had three kids in our house also. Just a couple of dresses and the shoes at Kenney;s. Our play debm55 Aug 7 #12

K-Mart or Twin Fair SamKnause Aug 7 #9

Thank you SamKnause. We had K-Mart, but I don't remember Twin Fair. debm55 Aug 7 #39

Sears and the Navy Exchange LogDog75 Aug 7 #11

Thank you very much LogDog75, Sears was good for kids clothing. debm55 Aug 7 #40

Montgomery Ward for anything our mother couldn't sew. Ritabert Aug 7 #13

Thank you very much Ritabert. I have found that boys clothing is especially harder to sew. debm55 Aug 7 #41

The Broadway and Nash's in Pasadena Beatlelvr Aug 7 #14

Me too, Beatlelver. May Company was a mainstay as a child and even after I got married. debm55 Aug 7 #42

Do you remember Bullocks? BuddhaGirl Aug 9 #84

Sears and Penny's, with Brown's Shoe Fit (the only shoe store in town) for shoes.👞 rsdsharp Aug 7 #15

Thank you very much rsdsharp. As I teen I did my school shopping at K-Mart. For some special occassions , I switched debm55 Aug 7 #43

When I was in elementary school, there was a local children's clothing store called Small Fry. Aristus Aug 7 #16

Thank you very much. Aristus, It;s amazing you remember that. The sweater sounds very nice. debm55 Aug 7 #28

Robert Hall Bmoboy Aug 7 #17

We did shopping at Robert Hall in our town.. It was the first clothing clothing store in McKeesport to close, I remember debm55 Aug 7 #26

Mervyn's & Montgomery Wards... FirstLight Aug 7 #18

Me too, I hated trying on dresses, Pants for girls were not allowed until 10th grade. debm55 Aug 7 #23

Mervyn's and Gallenkamp's or Kinney's. Nt Fiendish Thingy Aug 7 #19

Thank you very much, Fiendish Thingy. I think Kinney's shoes was very popular back then, I am still very concerned with debm55 Aug 7 #21

We got my clothes at JC Penny. FuzzyRabbit Aug 7 #20

Thank you FuzzyRabbit,---from a fellow sewer. debm55 Aug 7 #22

Horne's when we lived in Pittsburgh, Sears when we lived in Philly. n/t malthaussen Aug 7 #24

Hi Mal, I remember Hornes downtown, Thank you for the memories. debm55 Aug 7 #25

We had a store in Dover named Emmanuel's. They had the quality stuff in town my grandmother used to work there Walleye Aug 7 #27

Thank you very much ,Walleye.for sharing with us debm55 Aug 7 #67

Bambergers...(pre Macys) FalloutShelter Aug 7 #30

Oh wow, that sounds great. Thank you for sharing. I love those big multi floor stores . In Pittsburgh we had Kaufmann;s. debm55 Aug 7 #73

In HS, I sewed alot of my clothes because I was so small. LeftInTX Aug 7 #31

Thank you very much, LeftInTX. My husband did the same as his dad was in the service. debm55 Aug 7 #74

When I was in high school (class of 1969), sears had really stylish and well made... 3catwoman3 Aug 7 #32

Great post, 3catwoman3, Shoes have always been a problem for me too. Thank you for sharing. debm55 Aug 7 #54

Montgomery Ward Jilly_in_VA Aug 7 #33

Thank you, Jilly_in _VA, We had a Hills stores here in Western PA. too. I remember when my girlfriends and I went to debm55 Aug 7 #56

Sears, Howlands or the Stratford Town Fair Store. TommieMommy Aug 7 #34

Thank you very much TommieMommy. Sears seems like a favorite of a lot of families. It is a shame they went downhill. debm55 Aug 7 #57

Woodward & Lothrop oberle Aug 7 #35

Thank you very much, oberle. I ,too, liked the stores with lunch rooms. We made a day of it. debm55 Aug 7 #58

Bambergers (bought by Macy's). beaglelover Aug 7 #36

Thank you very much beaglelover. I shopped at Macy's after I got my first job. Liked their clothing. debm55 Aug 7 #60

Kmart JMCKUSICK Aug 7 #37

thank you John for sharing, We wenh to Kmart too debm55 Aug 7 #52

Sears, K Mart, Grant's Mad_Dem_X Aug 7 #38

Thank you very much, Mad_Dem_X, We had a Grant's here in our Western PA , town. debm55 Aug 7 #50

Rich's, downtown Atlanta. Solly Mack Aug 7 #44

Thank you very much , SollyMack. debm55 Aug 7 #49

Just looked up the old shoe store and was surprised they still exist. Eugene Aug 7 #45

Oh wow, that is neat that they are still around, Eugene. Thank you very much for your post. debm55 Aug 7 #48

Sears or we'd drive 180 miles south to Wurzburg's Department Store in Grand Rapids, MI. catbyte Aug 7 #46

Thank you catbyte. That is a long journey. debm55 Aug 7 #47

Greenberg's Men and Boys Shop, pdxflyboy Aug 7 #53

Thank you pdxflyboy. Yes, I remember the stores that sold just men's and boy's clothing. All gone. But many memories. debm55 Aug 7 #69

Mailman's in York PA Freddie Aug 7 #55

That's a great post Freddie. Thank you for sharing. debm55 Aug 7 #62

G Fox & Company Coolgoober Aug 7 #59

Yes, I loved those multilevel old stores. Each floor had its own theme---children;s, men's women;s etc. The escalators debm55 Aug 7 #65

My mom worked there, too. I posted below. We would skip school Cloudhopper Aug 8 #77

Montgomery Wards BigMin28 Aug 7 #61

Thank you for sharing with us, BigMin28. I bought some of my fabric at Hancocks Fabric. There were three to pick from. debm55 Aug 7 #63

pennys . may co. west covina. AllaN01Bear Aug 7 #68

Thank you very much AllaN01Bear, We had the May Co and Pennys here too. It was always a delight to visit at Christmas debm55 Aug 7 #70

i was fawscinated with sking . loved to visitt that section. AllaN01Bear Aug 7 #72

Thank you, Bear debm55 Aug 8 #83

Kmart, Zayres, Bradlees, Thom McAn Cloudhopper Aug 7 #71

Thank you Cloudhopper, My husband is from Boston and when we would visit, we would visit Filene's basement and get debm55 Aug 8 #82

For clothes, probably Wieboldts or Goldblatts. boonecreek Aug 7 #75

Thank you very much, boonecreek. We went to a different shoe store one year that had the xray machine to measure your debm55 Aug 8 #81

The State Street Mill bargain center. PoindexterOglethorpe Aug 7 #76

Thank you very much, PoindexterOglethorpe. Yes, your mom was amazing. debm55 Aug 8 #78

Meis Brothers department store. Emile Aug 8 #79

Thank you very much, Emile. I always liked getting back to school clothes and especially new shoes. debm55 Aug 8 #80

Local Shoe Store ProfessorGAC Aug 9 #85