Richard sears accomplishments

Richard Warren Sears

American businessman, founder of Sears

For other people with the same name, see Richard Sears (disambiguation).

Richard Warren Sears (December 7, – September 28, ) was an American businessman who co-founded the department store Sears, Roebuck and Company with his partner Alvah Curtis Roebuck.

Early life

Sears was born in Stewartville, Minnesota.

James warren sears Roebuck, a self-taught watchmaker who had grown up on an Indiana farm. Sears, Al bert Omega. Though the Sears family had been wealthy, his father lost the family fortune through speculative investments. The women's fashions pages were torn out and taken to small-town dressmakers or copied at home on one of the several models of sewing machines the catalogs sold; customers could even build new homes from kits the catalog offered for sale.

His father was James Warren Sears, born circa in New York, a blacksmith and wagon-maker; his mother was Eliza Burton, born in Ohio circa The family was living in Spring Valley, Minnesota, by June , where his father served as a city councilman and eventually sold his wagon shop in Both of his parents were of English descent.[1] During his boyhood in Spring Valley, he befriended Almanzo Wilder, the future husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

In , he started working as a telegraph operator in the town of North Branch, Minnesota, for the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway, and was later transferred to North Redwood Falls, Minnesota, to be station agent there.[2]

Businessman

In , when Sears was 23, his station received a shipment of gold watches from a Chicago manufacturer, but the local consignee, jeweller Edward Stegerson, refused the unsolicited shipment.

A common scam existing at the time involved wholesalers who would ship their products to retailers who had not ordered them. Upon refusal, the wholesaler would offer the already price-hiked items to the retailer at a lower consignment cost in the guise of alleviating the cost to ship the items back. The unsuspecting retailer would then agree to take this new-found bargain off the wholesaler's hands, mark up the items and sell them to the public, making a small profit in the transaction.

But Stegerson, a retailer savvy to the scam, flatly refused the watches.

Richard warren sears jr: According to an essay in Webster's American Biographies, his catalog copy "was liberally sprinkled with adjectives and was 'folksy' enough to be readable as popular fare. Sears, William P. Sears asked the manufacturer's permission to try to sell the watches. Seashore, Carl E.

Young Sears jumped at the opportunity, and made an agreement with the wholesaler to keep any profit he reaped above $12, and then he set about offering his wares to other station agents along the railroad line for $ The watches were considered an item of urban sophistication. Also because of the growth of railways, and the recent application of time zones, farmers and railroads needed to keep time accurately which had not been necessary until then.

For those two reasons the station agents had no trouble selling the watches to passers-by.

Within six months, Sears had netted $5, and felt so confident in this venture that he moved to Minneapolis and founded the R.

Richard warren sears biography According to figures, Sears had more than department stores across the United States and large-scale operations overseas. The success of the company was helped by fortuitous timing; railroads were expanding across the United States , which helped move freight along more quickly, and the Rural Free Delivery Act, which went into effect in , guaranteed the catalogs would be delivered to every single American home, no matter how remote. Trending Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about. As a railroad station agent in a small Minnesota town, he lived modestly, sleeping in a loft right at the station and doing chores to pay for his room and board.

W. Sears Watch Company. He began placing advertisements in farm publications and mailing flyers to potential clients. From the beginning, it was clear that Sears had a talent for writing promotional copy. He took the personal approach in his ads, speaking directly to rural and small-town communities, persuading them to purchase by mail-order.

Chicago

In , Sears moved his company to Chicago, an important transportation center for the Midwestern United States, and moved his residence to nearby Oak Park, Illinois.

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  • Alvah c roebuck

    • In he also hired watch repairman Alvah Curtis Roebuck to repair any watches being returned. Roebuck was Sears's first employee, and he later became co-founder of Sears, Roebuck & Company, which was formed in when Sears was 28 years old. In the company was short of cash and Roebuck had left the business. Sears sold one half of the company for $75, to Aaron Nusbaum and his brother-in-law, Julius Rosenwald.

    The company was incorporated in Illinois as Sears Roebuck & Co. of Illinois on September 7, Richard Sears retired in at age 44 and Julius Rosenwald became the President.[3]

    The first Sears catalog was published in and offered only watches. By , items such as men's and ladies clothing, plows, silverware, bicycles and athletic equipment had been added to the offering.

    Richard warren sears net worth Since his official duties were not all that time consuming, Sears soon began to look for other ways to make money after working hours. Searls, David Such tremendous growth led to problems, however. New Year's Resolution to Slim Down?

    The page catalog was sent to some , homes. Sears catered to the rural customer because, having been raised on a farm, he knew what the rural customer needed. He also had experience working with the railroad and he knew how to ship merchandise to remote areas.

    In Sears made another move forward and began to sell mail order homes through the catalogs.

    Death

    In Sears retired and moved from Oak Park to Lake Bluff, Illinois, suffering from failing health due to alcoholism. Six years later, he died in Waukesha, Wisconsin, of Bright's disease.[4]

    Legacy

    Sears's birthplace in Stewartville is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

    Sears was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in

    References

    1. ^Industrial revolution in America, Volumes 7–9 By Kevin Hillstrom, Laurie Collier Hillstrom page
    2. ^Richard Sears, Spring Valley Methodist Church Museum. Retrieved January 17,
    3. ^Lehr, Jr., Louis A.

      ().

      Richard warren sears quotes He died six years later, on September 28, His considerable profit led him to found the R. But Sears'catalog soon surpassed Ward's, and the pair engaged in an intense business rivalry for many years. Sears wrote all the catalog and advertising for the page catalog in ; it grew to pages by , and 1, pages just a few years later.

      Arnstein & Lehr, The First Years. Arnstein & Lehr. p.&#;2. ISBN&#;.

    4. ^"Richard W. Sears Dies.

    5. Richard sears philanthropy
    6. Richard warren sears family tree
    7. Richard w. sears company
    8. Richard sears net worth

      9. Founder of Sears, Roebuck & Co. Began Career as Railroad Employee". The New York Times. September 29, Retrieved June 14,

    External links