Sears Store In St. Cloud Minnesota Closing Mid January of 2018 | Hometown News
Another sign in the changing landscape of retail. The Sears St. Cloud, MN store location will be closing mid-January of 2018. This will leave the Crossroads Mall without one of the large anchor stores which has been part of the Crossroad Mall since it opened in April of 1966.
It is somewhat interesting that Sears/Roebuck started out as a mail-order business with origins in Minnesota. Richard Warren Sears was a railroad station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota. He had taken possession (purchased) a shipment of unwanted watches that were sent to a local jeweler in his area. After buying them, he started selling the watches to other station agents. This side business grew and he eventually ordered more and enjoyed success in his watch sales. Richard Sears moved to Chicago which eventually led to his teaming up with Alvah C. Roebuck and starting their first Sears/Roebuck catalog in 1888.
Tom Kuehne shared stories of the excitement of the small town and rural residents when the new Sears and Roebuck catalog came in the mail! Not only was it a great way to see what was new and trendy with everything from clothing to the latest gadgets, it was also a new source of outhouse material.
As Sears and Roebuck went on to expand their mail order offerings, they became competition for small town Mom and Pop shops who were the main source of goods for the rural/small town residents. The biggest advantage for the local shops was the ability for folks to touch and feel the products before buying, and having items ready for purchase over the counter over ordering and waiting two weeks or more.
Today, due to competition from other big-box retailers, along with online (think mail order) sales, and a lack of definition on behalf of what Sears sells is known for has caused the demise of traffic and sales at their brick and mortar stores.
Crossroads Mall initially featured two main anchor stores, JC Penney and Sears with one long hall between the two locations. Many over 40 will remember the excitement of going to the mall before the 1980s expansion to see what new things were available at stores like JC Penney, Sears, Walgreens, Woolworth’s and Music Land.
Some of my earliest memories of going to Woolworth’s was in December (because Christmas things were not put out before Thanksgiving back in the 70s) and going through the aisles and aisles of toys! At that time, they were the Walmart type business of the Mall. They carried most everything (short of food) and you were sure to find a new toy or a new shirt to make your holiday’s bright!
Read more about the closing here: http://wjon.com/crossroads-center-sears-to-close-in-mid-january/?trackback=fbshare_mobile_top
John Young is the founder of Small Town Business Do It Yourself (DIY). You can send questions on social media and website design to John at john@smalltownbusinessdiy.com.
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