Businessman. He was the co-founder of Sears and Roebuck Company, an American retailer, which sold clothes, appliances and housewares. While working as a train station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota, he accepted delivery of a shipment of watches that had been refused by the intended recipient. He was able to sell the watches quickly at a very good price, and soon established the R. W. Sears Watch Company in Minneapolis. Taking his business to Chicago in 1887, he soon hired Alvah Roebuck as a watchmaker. By the next year, he had issued a mail-order catalog. After leaving the business for a short time, Sears returned in 1892, changed the company name to "Sears, Roebuck and Company," in 1893 incorporated the company, and began to sell merchandise other than watches, mainly via mail order. He wrote the catalog himself, and it quickly expanded in size. He offered excellent prices and a "send no money" policy. By 1894 the catalog had grown to five hundred pages. At Roebuck's request, Sears purchased Roebuck's half of the company in 1895. He resigned from his company in 1908, leaving it in the hands of Julius Rosewald, who had replaced Roebuck in 1895. He retired in 1913 to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he died the next year.
Businessman. He was the co-founder of Sears and Roebuck Company, an American retailer, which sold clothes, appliances and housewares. While working as a train station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota, he accepted delivery of a shipment of watches that had been refused by the intended recipient. He was able to sell the watches quickly at a very good price, and soon established the R. W. Sears Watch Company in Minneapolis. Taking his business to Chicago in 1887, he soon hired Alvah Roebuck as a watchmaker. By the next year, he had issued a mail-order catalog. After leaving the business for a short time, Sears returned in 1892, changed the company name to "Sears, Roebuck and Company," in 1893 incorporated the company, and began to sell merchandise other than watches, mainly via mail order. He wrote the catalog himself, and it quickly expanded in size. He offered excellent prices and a "send no money" policy. By 1894 the catalog had grown to five hundred pages. At Roebuck's request, Sears purchased Roebuck's half of the company in 1895. He resigned from his company in 1908, leaving it in the hands of Julius Rosewald, who had replaced Roebuck in 1895. He retired in 1913 to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he died the next year.
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