Sears department store biography

American merchant Richard W. Sears — possessed one of his era's shrewdest business minds. Sears was born on December 7, , in Stewartville, Minnesota. His parents were of English heritage, and his father was a successful wagonmaker who entered into a stock farm venture that failed. After his father died, the teenage Sears was obligated to support his mother and sisters and went to work in the offices of the Minneapolis and St.

Louis Railroad in Minneapolis. He worked as a telegraph operator, and then trained to become a station agent.

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Relocating to a small burg called Redwood Falls, Sears ran its railroad station and slept in a loft there as well, a berth he got in exchange for keeping the station clean. He supplemented his income by dealing in coal and lumber and by contracting with local Native American communities to ship their venison. In his spare time, he studied the catalogs that came through, comparing the wholesale prices of the merchandise listed on the bills of lading for train freight with the retail prices in the catalogs, and concluded that there was profit to be made in mail-order businesses.

One day in , Redwood Falls's jeweler declined to accept a shipment of watches that arrived at the station. Instead of returning them to the manufacturer, Sears asked for and was given permission to sell them.