• Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, the built environment, planning adjacent topics, and anything else that comes to mind. No ads, no spam, and it's free. It's easy to join!

Let us look back a yesteryear's catalog offerings

SlaveToTheGrind

Cyburbian
Messages
5,161
Points
54
1939 Sears Fall and Winter

1767118939085.png
 
1767120328510.png

Nearly $2,000 for a new house?! Outrageous! If one were getting paid a princely sum of, say, $5 every week-day, it would take nearly 18 months salary to pay for that house, if you can believe that! Makes one want to dispose of the image in a waste-basket.
 
From the Fall 1997 Heathkit catalog.

Handheld, If you have the hands of an NFL quarterback.

Heathkit-Catalog-1977-Fall (dragged).jpg


Heathkit-Catalog-1977-Fall (dragged).jpg
 
My favorite catalog was the Service Merchandise fall/Christmas catalog. It was usually 200 pages of awesome that you usually could not find in stores. The 1980s versions were generally dogeared and marked up with my brother and my Christmas wish list. Which we usually never got. Here is the 1994 Spring edition. Just not the same but some great stuff.

Screenshot 2026-01-08 134757.jpg
 
My favorite catalog was the Service Merchandise fall/Christmas catalog. It was usually 200 pages of awesome that you usually could not find in stores. The 1980s versions were generally dogeared and marked up with my brother and my Christmas wish list. Which we usually never got. Here is the 1994 Spring edition. Just not the same but some great stuff.

View attachment 66054
Service Merchandise seemed to be the biggest of the format, but it seems like every city had a local version, too. In Buffalo it was Brand Names. I think they went under when I was in high school so around 2000... Not sure if any of these catalog showrooms still exist anywhere, but I'm thinking not.
 
Service Merchandise seemed to be the biggest of the format, but it seems like every city had a local version, too. In Buffalo it was Brand Names. I think they went under when I was in high school so around 2000... Not sure if any of these catalog showrooms still exist anywhere, but I'm thinking not.
LaBelle's when I lived in Minnesota. Still have my Plano tacklebox from the late 1970s from there - bday gift and purchased the day Tommy Kramer was in the store signing autographs.
 
Back
Top