Sears or Montgomery Ward

[fan-of-fans]

I've always been a Sears guy. I never really knew Montgomery. I can only recall going to it once as a kid. We had Sears catalogs around but not Montgomery. We did have a Montgomery microwave and washer. Otherwise our stuff was all Sears.

So I still feel a connection to Sears today. And I spent many hours going through the catalogs as a kid and young teen. Sears always felt respectable, I always imagined a fancy colonial home in Chicago or a farmhouse in Iowa and them getting everything from Sears. To me the Home Alone house or Katherine's mansion would be all Kenmore and Craftsman. Lol

 

[dartman]

We used to have both and shopped both though I preferred Sears for the tools and things.
Wards used to have a tool line too way back when but Sears was better known and stayed with theirs. I remember step dad had some Wards Power craft tools around and I may have a few somewhere still but think they folded it in the 50s.

 

[human]

Sears.

I grew up with Sears and JCPenny. If there was a Montgomery Ward in our city, I wasn't aware of it.

 

[jfalberti]

We shopped both

My grandparents loved Montgomery Wards (or Monkey Wards, as they called it), and my dad was die hard Sears fan.

 

[pr-21]

We had a Montgomery Wards which carried rebadged Eureka's and Hoover's. We also had a Swallens about 25 minutes away that had a huge selection of vacuum cleaners. That was back in the 70's....when vacuums like Eureka and Hoover, were made to last a lifetime. We also had a Middletown Vacuum Cleaner store (owner closed and retired) and a Fussneckers, that is still in business in a few locations in Dayton Ohio.

The original Mr. Fussnecker would do specialty work. I once wanted the Eureka Twin Power Automatic 2070, but I wanted the square handle that came on the model 260. I agreed to buy it and he switched the handle at no charge. Just took a couple extra days to get. His son owns the business now and I tried to get specialty work done and they don't do any of that anymore. Long story short, I traded that specialty vacuum in for the new ESP models that came out several years later......I do have a model 260 with the original square handle and also had a 6 amp two speed motor in it. It is a great vacuum cleaner for daily use, however the 6 amp two speed motor was unnecessary as the 3.5 amp cleaned just as well.....live and learn.


PR-21
Bud

 

[gottahaveahoove]

My late brother was a HUGE

Sears guy! Craftsman and "Lady Kenmore" all over the place.  He also had a Hamilton Beach canister, and a Hoover Convertible,   which sat in a closet for years!! My sister-in-law went to the Eureka side.  Never used Convertible attachments sat in the basement.  She set the pace yearsago, for sure.


 I loved him,  but........ what can you do?


 

 

[suckolux]

We had a nice Sears, the anchor store to our " mall" in the early 60s, still there, half dead looking now Our Wards parents called it Monkey also! Must be an okie thing? Was big too, this was in Marysville, where Sears was on other side of Yuba City. Reality about 4 miles apart. Sears seemed then to me have higher quality general goods?? Our Wards had a lot to pick from, hardware, paint, big auto. Long gone now of course. Mom had a Wards charge, so most times they got the business, some sears. My first vacuum I bought was a little hand held from Sears in the 60s, a Douglas I am sure. $20 I think?

 

[luxflairguy]

Here in the northwest, both were present. Seattle had a huge multi-story distribution center with a 4 story store attached. We always shopped there. Washers and dryers were always Kenmores. While 200 miles away south, in Portland, Montgomery Ward had their distribution center and stores. My grandparents lived there and "Monkey Wards" was their choice for many things. We even had cousins who were career employees. We always had the Sears catalog around and they always had the Wards catalog around.
MW went away in the late 80's I recall. I want every Eureka/Hoover re-brand they had, not the Sears stuff!

 

[vacerator]

We called it Monkey Wards

here in the D also. One that I know of was a mall anchor. No Sears at that mall. The rest were all in shopping centers built in the 50's, or stand alone stores like old Sears were.
Powercraft tools were still sold in the 70's. I remember buiyng tires at Wards in 1994. The Signature name was gone by then on major appliances. They carried Admiral, Maytag, Frigidaire.

 

[dartman]

Well, pretty sure the ones I saw in the family tool collection were older then 70s but good to know they lasted way longer than I thought.
There used to be a lot of auto parts and chain store tools way back when and many were made by major US tool companies back then and were excellent quality.
Think the lesser Craftsman lines are mostly Chinese now but haven't bought any new sets or singles lately to see where they are made.
Most of my tools I use heavily are craftsman as the quality was good enough and the warranty couldn't be beat.

 

[vinvac]

Brings back memories,

Monkey Wards...just what I remember it being called. My parents rarely ever bought anything new. They always bought someone else's junk...second hand shoppers.

However we did have a Montgomery Ward washing machine and Stove. Gas of course for the stove. That washer lasted for many years.

As a kid I would love looking thru the Sears and Wards catalogs. Now we don't have a Sear's store any where close. They closed out Dubuque store about 3 years ago. closest one is now about an hour away.

 

[human]

#Dartman: Yeah, Danaher, Sears' supplier for Craftsman hand tools, moved all their manufacturing operations to China almost a decade ago.

I found this out about five or six years ago when I bought a Craftsman ratchet on eBay for next to nothing and found the mechanism to be frozen up when I received it. When I went to Sears to get a replacement, I was disappointed to see "Made in China" stamped on the new tools they had on display. The ratchets in particular, with their plastic direction switches, looked cheap compared to their American-made predecessors. But I thought hey, a working Chinese ratchet is better than a non-working American one.

When I went up to the counter, the clerk (actually the department manager, according to his name badge) didn't mince words and to my surprise didn't pull a brand new Chinese made ratchet off the wall. Instead, he checked the model number on my ratchet and pulled an identical rebuilt American made one out of a toolbox behind the counter. He then rang up the replacement ratchet on the register for inventory purposes and handed me a receipt showing that I had been credited one penny for the trashed one I'd just turned in and charged one penny for the replacement, making a net transaction of $0.00.

When I got home, I contacted the eBay seller to let her know what had happened and that the problem was solved. She was very apologetic and offered me a refund, which I declined since the rebuilt American ratchet I got from Sears was literally better than (Chinese) new.

 

[dartman]

Yeah, too bad that only cost seems to count now and if course we all want cheaper stuff so everyone bails off shore to get cheaper stuff made to sell.
Most of the cordless pro grade drills now are made in China or elsewhere and the latest Dealt grinded we use at work are now bragging assembled in the USA of world sourced parts.
China is fully capable of making excellent stuff but usually only when told the contractor only wants top quality stuff, otherwise they figure out the cheapest way to make it.
The latest grinders also are way harder to service and the guards are to easy to move so way to easy to get caught by the wheel.
I don't think they are better and wonder who designed them.