The Sears building in downtown Chattanooga.
On Nov. 17 a merger agreement was announced that involves two longstanding names of American retailing. Kmart Holding Corporation and Sears, Roebuck and Co. will combine into a new company that will become the third largest retailer in the United States.
The two large corporations originated from the business dreams of small entrepreneurs. Each retailer also has a long association with the Chattanooga market.
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO.
For Sears, Roebuck and Co., it all started with a watch. In 1886, Richard W. Sears left his job as a railroad station agent to found the R. W. Sears Watch Company. The next year, Alvah C. Roebuck responded to Sears’ ad for a watch repairman. The company’s first catalog, which carried only watches and jewelry, was published in 1888. Through its mail order business, Sears, Roebuck and Co. reached both urban and rural markets. In 1925, the first Sears retail store opened in Chicago.
Sears, Roebuck and Co.’s first retail outlet in Chattanooga opened in 1927 at the corner of Sixth and Broad streets. Initially, the store carried only sporting goods and automobile items such as its Allstate brand of car tires that had been introduced in 1926. However, after a 1928 expansion into adjoining buildings, Sears added a complete line of merchandise.
On Nov. 17, 1932, the store moved into a new, two-story brick building at Sixth and Market streets. R. H. Hunt & Co. were the architects. On both horizontal and vertical signage, the company’s full name, “Sears, Roebuck and Co.” was proclaimed – note that the much-shorter “Sears” is a marketing name. The Broad Street side of the store housed the “Sears Tire Service” which included a garage. The WDOD radio station carried a live remote broadcast during the store’s grand opening. A 1932 Christmas advertisement featured an Oriole bicycle for $24.95, a Kenmore wringer washer for $59.50, and a Red Grange football for $1.79. The ad was captioned with “Sears brings a real Merrie Christmas within your budget.”
The architectural designs of R. H. Hunt & Co. considered future expansion by including foundation footings and reinforced concrete to support additional stories. In 1948, Sears took advantage of their foresight by adding two floors and increasing the width of their Market, Sixth, and Broad location. The store would also be remodeled, with all of the second-story windows being covered by brick.
In 1960, several old buildings were felled to make way for the Sears Parkade, a multi-level parking garage. Sears continued to operate the downtown store while competitors were opening branches in the Eastgate Mall in the early 1960’s. In 1972, a new Sears auto center opened at Sixth and Broad streets, with a parade of antique cars leading the grand opening.
Sears never had a major store at Eastgate, and was also a late arrival to Northgate Mall. On Feb. 27, 1974, to the delight of suburbanites, Sears opened its Northgate location. Various dignitaries, including local government officials, Sears management, and Winnie the Pooh, participated in the festivities. In 1988, Sears joined the line-up at Hamilton Place Mall. With shopping in the suburbs seemingly fully-entrenched, Sears closed its downtown stores in 1989. This was a deep loss for many downtown workers, including those of us who liked to browse through the latest Craftsman tool offerings during our lunch hour. The former Sears building was extensively remodeled, and today houses the offices of several businesses.
K-MART
K-Mart’s roots are in the five-and-dime store which Sebastian Spering Kresge founded in 1899 in Detroit. The S. S. Kresge Co. opened a store in the East Lake community of Chattanooga around 1960. At about the time that Kresge entered Chattanooga, the parent company was considering new, larger retailing centers that were the vision of new company president, Harry B. Cunningham. In 1962, the first K-Mart department store opened in Garden City, Michigan. Soon, red signs with the slanted capital “K” and lower-case “mart” were going up across the country.
On Feb. 27, 1969, the first K-Mart in the Chattanooga area opened at 4121 Hixson Pike. The site was selected because of the rapid change of the Hixson/Red Bank area from rural to suburban. Highland Plaza had opened nearby just a few years earlier.
The one hundred square-foot K-Mart offered shoppers nearly every item that they could want. Their motto was “Discount prices everyday on everything.” Cashiers, reminded by a sticker on every register, always completed the sale with a “Thank you for shopping at K-Mart.” Opening-day specials included a 3 H.P mower for $35.87, an ironing board for $2.96, AquaNet for 27 cents, and Sylvania flashcubes for 88 cents. Back in the pet department – difficult to find at K-Mart’s today – a parakeet cost 99 cents.
K-Mart had an extensive music department, where I could usually be found. Selected albums on opening day were $1.08. For fans of the new format of 8-track tapes, K-Mart offered an 8-track car stereo for $39.96.
Next door to the K-Mart department store was K-Mart foods. During the grand opening,
one could buy T-bone steaks at $1.28/pound. To complement the steak dinner, buy a 6-pack of locally-based Double Cola in glass bottles (with refundable deposit) for 28 cents.
Perhaps the best-known feature of any K-Mart, though, was the “blue light special.” Store management would roll a cart with a blinking blue light atop a pole to a location inside the store. Then, an announcement would be made over the store’s loud speaker to invite K-Mart shoppers to “come on over to our deli to buy some delicious ham” or “stop by our auto department while the blue light is on for savings on a K-Mart oil filter.” The carnival-like atmosphere created by the K-Mart blue light caused shoppers to stay longer just to see what would be on “blue light special”next.
After the original Hixson store, K-Mart opened stores in these locations:
* East Ridge (1970) – even larger than the Hixson store
* Fort Oglethorpe (1973)
* Highway 58 (1977)
* Mountain Creek/Signal Mountain Road (1981)
* Lee Highway (1981)
* Dayton Pike in north Red Bank (1982)
In the years which followed, K-Mart relocated some of its stores in response to the changing marketplace.
If you have memories of Sears or K-Mart, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@signaldata.net.