[tkgally]

The Internet Archive has scans of Sears catalogs from when it was a major mail-order retailer. For example:

1911: https://archive.org/details/sears-roebuck-catalog-122-spring...

1922: https://archive.org/details/SearsRoebuckAndCoCatalog1922_201...

When I was young, they were especially known for their tools:

1974/1975: https://archive.org/details/SearsCraftsmanPowerAndHandTools1...

More here:

https://archive.org/search?query=title%3A%28sears+catalog%29...

[b112]

My house, built in the 60s, is actually 4 Sears cabin kits. The guy bought them, and assembled them end to end, making a long house.

Same guy dug the original ditch by driving back and forth with his jeep for an hour during spring rain. This gives a perspective on his can do attitude.

But really, I'm living in the house still, so it can't be that bad.

[potato3732842]

You literally can't do that today in any jurisdiction with building code. It wouldn't be illegal, but the hoops you'd need to jump through (and they way they'd likely try and screw you at every turn) to string together a bunch of kit buildings and call it a "house" would make it so expensive that you'd be better off hiring professionals to build a house the normal way.

[ycombinatrix]

>Same guy dug the original ditch by driving back and forth with his jeep for an hour during spring rain.

wtf? how deep is the ditch?

[Cyph0n]

Wait, were those tools all Sears branded? Hopefully they were private label and not actually manufactured by Sears!

[tkgally]

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the Craftsman brand:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craftsman_(tools)

My personal recollection from the 1970s is that Craftsman tools had a reputation for high quality and that people I knew bought them at Sears stores.