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

[BLAZEY]

I too love flipping through Sear's Wishbook catalogue. We also had the Woodward's and Eaton's catalogues. For many years most of our gifts and clothes were bought at Woodward's because my Grampa worked there and he would buy our stuff with his discount and mum would pay him for the purchases. Grannie had worked at Eaton's when my mum was in school.

 

[cedricandsophie]

When I was young I used to go thru the sears and Spiegel catalogues and pick out one thing frim each page that I would get if I could, clothes, toys, appliances etc. I’d spend hours doing it and not just at Christmas. Now I get tons of catalogs at home during the Christmas season and most I just toss without even opening. I do most of my shopping on amazon, in front of the fire with a glass of wine.

 

[dhardawa]

Service Merchandise wasn’t a catalog only store. We had one here and it was every bit as amazing as the catalog. The whole store was filled with display items. If you wanted something, you took a little tag to the register. Then, you’d wait and your item would come down this long conveyer belt and an employee would give it to you. It was my very favorite store!

 

[bcla]

Service Merchandise wasn’t a catalog only store. We had one here and it was every bit as amazing as the catalog. The whole store was filled with display items. If you wanted something, you took a little tag to the register. Then, you’d wait and your item would come down this long conveyer belt and an employee would give it to you. It was my very favorite store!

The one I remember was small, and not all items were on display. I only purchased something once from them, and it was actually a display model since they didn't have a new item in the back room.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I still go thru Catalogs n order...they put the year ..
Uncommon goods ( good quality, interesting stuff), Omaha steak company, and front gate come to mind...

 

[PollyannaMom]

I used to do a lot of catalog shopping before things went to on-line, and I still get lots of smaller retailers' catalogs in the mail - Current, Bits & Pieces, What on Earth...

I have fond memories over the years of curling up with a cup of coffee and shopping, finding just the right unusual gift for people.

But the volume is getting a little ridiculous. This year I decided to keep them in a basket and see how many came. - So far I'm up to 8 pounds!

So, I went through the basket yesterday - saved a couple for things I want to order later on, a few more for my little niece and nephew to cut up for craft projects, but most got recycled.

The final total was 22.6 pounds!!

Lands End was the worst - they sent me 5! And Lakeside Collection was the biggest single book (but I like that one, and they only sent it once.)

 

[ronandannette]

I don't know why but I just had a thought yesterday that this would be about the time of year the Sears White Sale catalog would have arrived. I miss that store like crazy.

 

[JaxDad]

Here’s one part I don’t miss:

Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

 

[maxaroni]

Remember these catalogs with fond memories. Of course, the Sears Wish Book for Christmas items. Each season the JCP catalog came out, I’d go through nearly every page. My mom was big into the S & H Green stamps and remember getting numerous things. Spiegal & “Monkey Ward” were favorites as well. Then the explosion of catalog shopping hit and my mom was in her glory. Once she ordered from one, 50 more seemed to come. LOL. Yes, Lillian Vernon was a favorite, too. She got into Swiss Colony and Figi’s during the holidays. Not only the petit fours but the rolled cakes and tortes made the cut, too.

When pregnant with DS26, I was on bedrest from week 11 until I delivered, so Christmas shopping that year was done using catalogs. Then it was my turn to get flooded with catalogs. Thankfully, most have stopped but still get some. They hit the recycle bucket right away.

 

[Sparkly]

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.

Loved when a new Argos catalogue came out as a kid. I spent hours poring over it and especially the toy section. I loved the summer one when they had the pools and stuff, always wanted one for our garden.

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."

I miss the Disney Store catalogues! Now it would just be plastic dolls and dress up costumes because that's all they seem to stock nowadays.

 

[willowsnn3]

[QUOTE="pattyw, post: 59989567, member: 179327" We collected S and H green stamps![/QUOTE]

I was the designated 'stamp licker', lol.

I remember well the huge Sears & JC Penney catalogs & the Christmas wishbooks.

As a child my friends & I would take the old catalogs & cut out the women & children for paperdolls, lol.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Never actually used the order form in a catalog but I have done my “shopping” using the catalog and then called in the order or ordered online.

 

[RangerPooh]

As a kid we made our Christmas Wishlists from the Sears WishBook and JCP holiday catalogs. In college (late 90s) I ordered clothes from the JCP catalog as well as Alloy. Living in a rural area meant that it was either Walmart of catalogs for clothes, and being plus size it was catalogs. I also remember ordering sports bras from the Hanes/Champion and Runners World catalogs in the mid 90s.

My parents would shop at Service Merchandise. We'd shop at the one off Blossom Hill Rd and Almaden Expressway in San Jose.

Disney Store catalog is the one that I miss the most.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

When my sister and I were little, we had catalogs from all sorts of stores. After my Mom and Dad were finished with them we were allowed to cut out the pictures and glue them to paper, making rooms. We called it our "Catalog Work." I can still smell the mucilage...

 

[marthachick]

My sister and I would flip through the clothes and toys (Sears catalog) and ‘call’ a page. Whatever was on the page we called was ‘ours’. We would flip and scan quickly and point and say ‘that page’. Whoever pointed the quickest won. Lol. I just remembered this.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

The pages featuring bras and women's underwear and lingerie were useful.

 

[aprilchem]

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.

Fisher Scientific catalog is still alive and well - and huge. We get it at work and I order from it often. They also make an education catalog that has more of the stuff you remember in it.