Anyone want to share memories of shopping from a printed catalog?

[apirateslifeforme]

When I was little, it was the JCPenney catalog for us - my grandmother worked at JCPenney starting in 1977. I always waited very impatiently for the Christmas catalog (and the spring/summer and fall/winter ones as well). They always arrived in our mail shrink-wrapped, however, and woe if I opened it before Gram and my mom got to it! I was not allowed to look at the catalogs until they had both thoroughly gone through them.

I made my Santa list from the Christmas one, of course. The year I was 6 (I think), I wanted just about everything. My mom still has the photo of me with Santa, who is unrolling my LONG list made from taped-together notepaper! I am now 44 years old and she still reminds me of it!

 

[Prose]

I remember Green and Plaid stamps, Service Merchandise, Sears and JC Penney....At SM you would fill out the form and then stand at the end of a conveyor belt, waiting for your item to appear. The best was at Christmas, when you would circle what you wanted, even turn down the corner of the page if you really wanted the toy.

I still get catalogs at work - mostly for office supplies and things like supply carts, tables and chairs, etc. They just get recycled. My daughter still gets the American Girl Doll catalog, even through she's in college.....

 

[North of Mouse]

Oh, my, loved the catalogs that we received when we were children, especially the Sear's Wish Book. My brother and I nearly wore it out with all our 'wishing'!!
We knew they were truly 'wishes' as no way we could have the things that were so exciting!
Also, nearly all our clothing came from Sears as mail order - so exciting when our packages were delivered!!
Also, the big Spring Sears catalog had baby chicks, puppies, etc. in them - oh, what a memory lane!!

We also had S&H green stamps as well as yellow Top Value Stamps.

 

[bcla]

I still get catalogs at work - mostly for office supplies and things like supply carts, tables and chairs, etc. They just get recycled. My daughter still gets the American Girl Doll catalog, even through she's in college.....

One thing I thought was cool was the Fisher Scientific catalog that our science teacher had. They had a lot of stuff there, including dangerous chemicals and some simple stuff. I remember there was even a catalog listing for live bees. My junior high science teacher knew I loved poring through them, and gave me one of the older catalogs that of course wasn't current.

At work I remember seeing the Hewlett-Packard test equipment catalog. It was a hard-bound volume and contained everything they had. I don't remember any prices though. I suppose the prices were available upon request from a distributor.

 

[dyna]

Yes I remember pouring over the catalogs for hours, seldom did I ever get anything out of those catalogs.

During my teen an early adult yrs if Dad heard me say I want that he'd tear it out of the catalog hand it too me. I expected to get an envelope of everything I ever wanted for Christmas courtesy of my dad.

 

[AurumPunzel]

In the UK, we have Argos, and I have fond memories of browsing through their catalogues, always making a beeline for the toy section and the stereos. However, unlike Sears, Argos managed to evolve into the 21st Century and their branches even double as eBay click-and-collect points, so if someone does manage to salvage Sears before they die out, they should learn from Argos.

 

[brooke789]

We picked our Christmas lists from JCPenny in the 80s/90s! We also ordered treats from Swiss Colony and a few random things from Fingerhut. My Mom liked those last two b/c the prices were listed in monthly payments. I specifically remember getting a Lava lamp from Fingerhut b/c my present could be paid for over many months.

 

[cats mom]

I hadn't really thought about it, but I do kind of miss Coldwater Creek (seldom bought clothes there, the descriptions of where to wear the outfits were always interesting to read), Storybook Heirlooms (for girls boutique stuff), and maybe Brookstone. I think Crazy Shirts is about the only catalog we still get.

 

[moniqueand2]

It wasn't Christmas time until I got the Swiss Colony catalog in the mail and placed an order for some petit fours (plus gift).

 

[AllyBri]

Thinking about the Sears catalog back in the 1950s, a friend and I would sit with the catalog and we would pick one thing from each page we would like to have if we were millionaires.
We would sit for hours going through the catalog.

 

[SRQ57]

Remember well the Sear's Wish book at Christmas, and als the J.C. Penny Catalog at Christmastime. My kids would poor over them circling everything their little hearts desired. (I did too). I miss those days.

 

[superme80]

I loved the Sears Wish Book. It was an exciting day when it arrived. My sister and I would fight over it. My other favorite was the original Pleasant Company catalog. They were destroyed from over use, so I never got to keep any of them. I wanted everything!

 

[smokeyblue]

We were for sure a JC Penney's family. I loved going through the holiday calendar as a child. Our JC Penney store was in an old 2 story building in a tiny little city. The catalog department was in the basement and I always thought the ladies that worked there looked ancient. When I was in high school I'd make a list of the school clothes I wanted to order and my parents would give me the credit card and I'd call and place my order.

 

[NYCgrrl]

No childhood memories that actually involved wanting or buying anything from Sear's or Montgomery Ward's. I suspect this was a function of growing up in NYC and having a Mom who could and did make most of our clothing; they didn't look like anything from the catalogue companies.

In the late 80's thru early 90's, older sister and I went through a Speigel's love affair. Oftimes we could find fashion-forward suits at less cost than local department stores.

 

[PollyannaMom]

My daughter still gets the American Girl Doll catalog, even through she's in college.

Yeah, that one is persistent! I ordered my older nieces some clothes for their dolls when they were probably 6 and 8, and I still get a catalog every Christmas twenty years later.

 

[rajak73]

Loved the old sears wish book and JC penny. We also saved green stamps, the one I remember is I begged mom and dad for a football from green stamps, it was 1 whole book. Years later, I figured it up and that football I got from 1 book would have been $125 worth of goods to fill the green stamp book, Lot of money in the 60's.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I looooooooooooved catalogues as a kid. Anyone remember the catalogue of catalogues? You sent off the little card with the little numbers circled, and you would be put on the mailing list for all these different catalogues. I used to get at least half a dozen a week.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I’m a late 80’s/90’s baby so the Toys R Us Christmas toy book and Delia’s catalogs were everything.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I used to get one color of ink marker and my sister got a different color.
We’d circle everything in the catalog that we wanted santa to bring. We usually got at least one thing that we had circled. We didn’t have a lot or big christmases but I’d spend hours looking thru the catalog.

 

[hopemax]

What I miss about catalogs, it would let you find out about stuff you didn't even know you wanted. Especially, the Disney Catalog. It would show up, and you'd flip through it and find something cool. Shopping online is great when you know you need something specific. But if you just want to flip through stuff looking for inspiration for a gift or just curiosity it's hard to do that because there could be hundreds or thousands of results. I actually kept all the Disney Catalogs from about 1999-until they stopped. I am a Disney Collector, so it's a good resource to look back at what was available when, original cost and other details.

As far as the Sears catalog...I mentioned in the other thread that my Mom worked at Sears, and for several years she worked in the Catalog department. So my catalog memories is all the stuff that she bought because other people returned them. She had the access to see what came through, and took full advantage. But I also did the "circling things in the Wish book."