What Happened to Sears? It Built a City, Then Walked Away

Sears history started with a simple mail order catalog and transformed into a retail empire that built entire cities. This video explores the rise and fall of the company, from its early days as a catalog giant to the construction of its massive mail-order plant. We look at the company's significant impact on urban development, including the iconic Sears-designed skyscrapers that once defined the American skyline. The story follows the firm through its peak and eventual decline, leading to its retail bankruptcy filing. We examine how a titan of business history struggled to adapt as the landscape shifted around it. If you remember flipping through those thick catalogs or visiting the stores before the decline, this one is for you. Subscribe for weekly business history breakdowns, and let me know in the comments which defunct brand you want to see next. Photos: Wikimedia Commons and Flickr (Creative Commons and public domain), Library of Congress, Internet Archive and U.S. National Archives (public domain). Photographers: Richard from USA, Steve Shook, Joe+Jeanette Archie, Kheel Center, Phillip Pessar, David Ohmer, Jonathan Lee, Quintin Soloviev, Pokemonprime, Glubin39, Michaelklump1, Darren56brown, Harobouri, Tkefan29, Michael Rivera, Acabashi, Mike Kalasnik, w_lemay, Teemu008. #Sears #WhatHappenedToSears #SearsHistory #RiseAndFallOfSears #SearsDocumentary #SearsTower #SearsRoebuck #JuliusRosenwald #RetailHistory #BusinessHistory #ChicagoHistory #TheEmptyBooth