@yakkoTDI The Sears catalog offered practically everything and was quite the dominant force in the retail industry. They were Amazon before Amazon even existed.
Retail Archeology visited one of the remaining stores last year:
@awk@davidgro And these days, VS tries even harder to be more like Frederick’s, and manages instead to be neither FoH or VS. They used to sell really well-made, durable things which were everyday-wearable and also sexy. Not so much now.
@Turken A casualty of the Japan’s financial crisis, as IIRC, their primary line of credit was from a Japanese bank. 1992 was when they filed for bankruptcy protection, subsequently full chapter 7 liquidation.
As a design document for presenting “the future” or “ten years from now, today,” I have to say that no somewhat commonly distributed catalog did it better than the Sharper Image. It was like an episode each of the Jetsons and Star Trek plus (not that I knew it at the time) an anime or two to boot.
As a “catalog” can mean simply a list of items in custody or for sale, as far as that goes, the Sharper Image did great. As an enticement to buy things from the catalog, well, I knew one or two people who occasionally had things from them, so I guess it didn’t totally fail, but I’d anecdotally rate almost every other catalog-sending business ahead of them in conversion percentage (and probably gross sales, though maybe not profit margin - their stuff was expensive but they may have bought it cheaply).
@randoon@ybmuG I’d forgotten that but seeing the images brought it right back.
Actually kind-of like this site. Each product is accompanied by a long wordy article that may or may not have much to do with the product being offered!
Sort of. The current entity was started well after the original one’s bankruptcy, and while it was founded by the same person (Drew Kaplan), he later sold it off to a long-time friend, Sol Harari. Echoes of the original are present, but it’s tiny by comparison to its predecessor.
@pmarin@randoon@scurvyp@werehatrack @ybmuG Now THAT would leave an impression on your favorite artist (literally ) if you threw it at them on their next concert tour!
We weren’t fancy enough to have Sharper Image, but the Harriet Carter catalog was plenty inspiring in its own right. It was like a one-stop shop for every failed Shark Tank pitch, before Shark Tank was a thing.
I can’t remember the name of it but it mostly had weird kitchen and woman’s stuff in it that as I kid I thought was really grandma stuff. BUT one time it had a reissue of the “snow plates” my mom got at her wedding (made in Italy, hand painted, a bunch of different snow scenes with falling snow…). She had always wished she had 12 and not 8 so I bought her 4. They had a bit less color in them than the originals, but still hand painted, still made in Italy, still otherwise the same plates. She was thrilled. It was worth the months of my babysitting money it cost to buy them (probably paid about $25/each). Found some photos online
@pooflady It was certainly a step up from some. Mom got it and liked it. As a kid, not so much so but when she had folded the page with these plates and marked them I knew she’d never buy them (although had said repeatedly over the years she wished she had 4 more) as we didn’t have much money but I had enough in saved babysitting money to do so and as a result that was her christmas/birthday present. She was thilled (and I got the usual lecture about spending so much of my hard earned money )
@Kyeh@pooflady Mom gave them to my sister (sigh). I like them too. We used to only use them for special deserts and with company. Of course 4 kids can cause catastrophe with pretty things.
@Kyeh I agree and then I have to keep telling myself it is only stuff and the memories we have from using them is what matters. Mom giving them to my sister can’t take away my enjoyment of her pleasure of getting 4 more and not even remotely expecting that would happen. And where I live this apartment is so small I could never have a party to use them anyway.
I have to step back to more like the 70’s.
The Sears catalog was still as big as a large city phone book, over an inch thick. As a little boy, I thought it was fascinating that they showed little girls in white panties.
But girls were confusing so I decided to go for electronics instead. Some may remember
Heathkit
Digi-key (they seem to be still around)
Edmunds Scientific had many non-scientific things. (apparently they are still around and focused on optics only).
Also some model railroad catalogs but can’t remember the name.
Before the internetz (decades before…) those catalogs were the stuff of dreams. (except the girls part; that would be creepy…)
I always enjoyed looking at my mom’s wireless catalog. It was a fun and eclectic assortment of things. It’s where you could go for clothes that said funny things before screen printing got commoditized, also, strange jewelry, and games and toys I never saw advertised anywhere else.
In the '90s I would say Radio Shack. Before that it was Sears.
@yakkoTDI Now that I think about it I would like to change my answer from Radio Shack to Pedal Pushers.
@yakkoTDI The Sears catalog offered practically everything and was quite the dominant force in the retail industry. They were Amazon before Amazon even existed.
Retail Archeology visited one of the remaining stores last year:
@narfcake
This is so true and it makes me wonder how they failed at staying that dominant.
@yakkoTDI To add more fuel to that, Sears also had a hand in Prodigy. Offering the Sears Catalog online would have been HUGE in the late 1980s/1990s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_(online_service)
@narfcake @yakkoTDI Prodigy?? I don’t see the brand synergy.
@ircon96 @narfcake Not The Prodigy but Prodigy.
@narfcake @yakkoTDI Ohhh, THAT Prodigy! I still don’t see the synergy, tho…
Victoria’s Secret
@awk Nah, Frederick’s of Hollywood.
@awk VS was good, but it was no Frederick’s of Hollywood
@awk @davidgro And these days, VS tries even harder to be more like Frederick’s, and manages instead to be neither FoH or VS. They used to sell really well-made, durable things which were everyday-wearable and also sexy. Not so much now.
I was always fond of the DAK catalog, until they went bust.
@Turken A casualty of the Japan’s financial crisis, as IIRC, their primary line of credit was from a Japanese bank. 1992 was when they filed for bankruptcy protection, subsequently full chapter 7 liquidation.
Hammacher Schlemmer - Always had some of the coolest, most mind-boggling, and out-of-my-price-realm stuff. But a kid could dream
@arosiriak Definitely.
Earlier than the 90s but I’d say Frederick’s of Hollywood was my favorite as a kid.
Sears
F.A.O. Schwarz
As a design document for presenting “the future” or “ten years from now, today,” I have to say that no somewhat commonly distributed catalog did it better than the Sharper Image. It was like an episode each of the Jetsons and Star Trek plus (not that I knew it at the time) an anime or two to boot.
As a “catalog” can mean simply a list of items in custody or for sale, as far as that goes, the Sharper Image did great. As an enticement to buy things from the catalog, well, I knew one or two people who occasionally had things from them, so I guess it didn’t totally fail, but I’d anecdotally rate almost every other catalog-sending business ahead of them in conversion percentage (and probably gross sales, though maybe not profit margin - their stuff was expensive but they may have bought it cheaply).
My two favorites were CCS, and Earache Records.
Since I was just entering puberty It was either the JC Penny Wishbook at Christmas or the JC Penny Lingerie catalog.
The Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, for its sheer obnoxious absurdity.
Depends on what you’re into. Me, Carvin guitars.
Clearly Victoria’s Secret.
DAK was a great catalog!
@randoon here’s a little proof
https://archive.org/details/1984-Fall-DAK-Catalog/page/n4/mode/1up
Somewhere I think I still have the item on page 40
@randoon @ybmuG I’d forgotten that but seeing the images brought it right back.
Actually kind-of like this site. Each product is accompanied by a long wordy article that may or may not have much to do with the product being offered!
@randoon DAK is still around
@randoon @scurvyp
Sort of. The current entity was started well after the original one’s bankruptcy, and while it was founded by the same person (Drew Kaplan), he later sold it off to a long-time friend, Sol Harari. Echoes of the original are present, but it’s tiny by comparison to its predecessor.
@pmarin @randoon @scurvyp @werehatrack
) if you threw it at them on their next concert tour!
@ybmuG Now THAT would leave an impression on your favorite artist (literally
We weren’t fancy enough to have Sharper Image, but the Harriet Carter catalog was plenty inspiring in its own right. It was like a one-stop shop for every failed Shark Tank pitch, before Shark Tank was a thing.
I can’t remember the name of it but it mostly had weird kitchen and woman’s stuff in it that as I kid I thought was really grandma stuff. BUT one time it had a reissue of the “snow plates” my mom got at her wedding (made in Italy, hand painted, a bunch of different snow scenes with falling snow…). She had always wished she had 12 and not 8 so I bought her 4. They had a bit less color in them than the originals, but still hand painted, still made in Italy, still otherwise the same plates. She was thrilled. It was worth the months of my babysitting money it cost to buy them (probably paid about $25/each). Found some photos online
Now I remember. Lillian Vernon catalog.
Edit: Just spent some time looking at it. It sure has changed.
@Kidsandliz Lillian Vernon was one of the better ones.
@pooflady It was certainly a step up from some. Mom got it and liked it. As a kid, not so much so but when she had folded the page with these plates and marked them I knew she’d never buy them (although had said repeatedly over the years she wished she had 4 more) as we didn’t have much money but I had enough in saved babysitting money to do so and as a result that was her christmas/birthday present. She was thilled (and I got the usual lecture about spending so much of my hard earned money
)
@Kidsandliz @pooflady Those plates are really pretty.
@Kyeh @pooflady Mom gave them to my sister (sigh). I like them too. We used to only use them for special deserts and with company. Of course 4 kids can cause catastrophe with pretty things.
@Kidsandliz @pooflady Geez, they should have gone to you since you gave most of them to her.
@Kyeh That was my argument but it wasn’t taken into consideration because that sister wanted them.
@Kidsandliz That sucks.
@Kyeh I agree and then I have to keep telling myself it is only stuff and the memories we have from using them is what matters. Mom giving them to my sister can’t take away my enjoyment of her pleasure of getting 4 more and not even remotely expecting that would happen. And where I live this apartment is so small I could never have a party to use them anyway.
While not very visually interesting to look at, FuncoLand is the catalog I always looked forward to receiving.
I have to step back to more like the 70’s.
The Sears catalog was still as big as a large city phone book, over an inch thick. As a little boy, I thought it was fascinating that they showed little girls in white panties.
But girls were confusing so I decided to go for electronics instead. Some may remember
Heathkit
Digi-key (they seem to be still around)
Edmunds Scientific had many non-scientific things. (apparently they are still around and focused on optics only).
Also some model railroad catalogs but can’t remember the name.
Before the internetz (decades before…) those catalogs were the stuff of dreams. (except the girls part; that would be creepy…)
Jeff had and will always have the best catalogs. To deny this is futile and a known cause of syphilis.
I always enjoyed looking at my mom’s wireless catalog. It was a fun and eclectic assortment of things. It’s where you could go for clothes that said funny things before screen printing got commoditized, also, strange jewelry, and games and toys I never saw advertised anywhere else.
One that I really don’t miss is the stupid pretentious J. Peterman catalog.
I guess it still exists online.
@Kyeh But, silver lining, Seinfeld made it hilarious!
@ircon96 I should try to watch that. I was never really a Seinfeld fan.
Another vote for DAK.
Johnson Smith (maybe a little older…)
Late 80’s saw the demise of the Banana Republic catalog. As much fun to read as to order from.
@chienfou
JC Whitney was also a great source for car/motorcycle parts.