Sears in Spokane
While Sears is a wholly American story, it’s a Spokane story as well. Its rise was more than evident here, as the retailer built the city’s most modern department store downtown only to abandon it 30 years later for the city’s first suburban shopping mall at NorthTown.
Section:Gallery
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This photo was taken March 3, 1930, less than a week after Sears, Roebuck & Co. opened a new store in Spokane at 906 W. Main. Sears invested $750,000 in the building site and stock. The building had three stories and a full basement and was equipped with the lastest combined heating and ventilating system. In September 1961, Sears sold the building to the Comstock Foundation which converted it into the main Spokane Public Library. The building was demolished in 1992 to make way for a new library.
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FILE-In this 1932 file photo, W. F. Potts of Country Homes estate paid $512 for this horseless carriage, known as a Sears auto-buggy. J. D. Walters, W024 Kiernan, shown at the steering bar, rode in the car when it was new, and vouches that at 15 per "it seemed just like we were flying." Present owner of the relic is R. C. Bush of Bush's service station, who is shown putting a license sticker on the dashboard. The buggy has a two-cylinder motor, with cylinders opposed, and a gear with seven forward speeds and a reverse.
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In this 1933 file photo, Spokane’s colorful and beloved Santa Claus, William G. F. Pratt, 92, was employed for many holiday seasons by Sears Roebuck and company.
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FILE- In this undated file photo, wide aisles like this one should make it easy for shoppers to move about. Appliance, cameras and typewriters are in the foreground here and the view is toward a ready to wear department.
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FILE- In this 1938 file photo, this striking aerial photograph pictures the new building being constructed in the industrial section on East Trent and east Sprague, along the Northern Pacific tracks. In the foreground is the new warehouse of Sears-Roebuck company, Next to it may be seen walls of the new warehouse of the International Harvester Company. To the right is the warehouse, recently occupied, of Montgomery Ward & Company.
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FILE- In this 1961 file photo, less than a minute after this picture was taken, crowds swarmed into Sears Roebuck and Company's multi million dollar Northtown store. Shown clipping the lilac ribbon in front of the main doors is City Councilman Jerome Kopet. Admiring his technique are Sarah Ann Jullion, Spokane Lilac Festival Queen; Joseph W. Kipper, Sears store manager and Lorin W. Markham, general manager of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce.
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FILE- In this 1968 file photo, the turnout is good as the new Sears Roebuck & Co. catalog and appliance store officially opens in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center.
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FILE- In this 1951 file photo, this 47-year-old auto soon will be traveling Spokane streets again. It is a Searsmobile owned by Ray Bish, E209 Sprague. Ray L. Shahan, Sears Spokane store manager, and Mrs. Shahan donned outfits to befit the car as it was being conditioned. Mrs. Shahan is shaking hands with Gene Hatton, assistant manager of the store.
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FILE- In this 1962 file photo, wide pedestrian malls are a new feature at the NorthTown regional shopping center. Pictured here is a store-lined mall linking stores fronting on Division with Sears Roebuck & Co., which faces Lidgerwood. Nearby is "Fountain Square" where an 18-foot decorative fountain will be unveiled tomorrow morning. Concrete planter boxes of varying sizes and shapes are placed throughout the malls and will contain seasonal flowers as well as evergreen shrubs.
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FILE- In this 1979 file photo, shoppers check item inside the NorthTown Sears.
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FILE- Actress Stefanie Powers and King, a two-month-old tiger cub, get top billing on the cover of Sears 1985 Spring-Summer catalog.
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FILE- In this 1989 file photo, workers have nearly finished moving merchandise into the new Sears Roebuck & Co. store at NorthTown Mall.
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FILE-Sears Roebuck and Company-store’s interior view in 1991.
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FILE- Sears Roebuck & Co. Spokane store-exterior view in 1991.
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FILE- In this 1994 file photo, people mesmerized by the O.J. Simpson affair jam the bank of about 35 television sets in the NorthTown Mall Sears.
Colin Mulvany The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Spokane Valley Mall customers use the escalators near Sears on Monday, Oct.15, 2018.
Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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Spokane Valley Mall customers walk through the parking lot near Sears on Monday, Oct. 15, 2018.
Kathy Plonka The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo
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