Next Door Neighbors by Pat Sandy for December 13, 2023

Is that something like a maternity ward?

I said something about a Sears catalog. Blank look, then “didn’t they go out of business ?” I said in 1950. They said " they had catalogs back then?" Somebody’s grandkid is getting a bag of rocks for Christmas.

Did you mean “cat blog”?

We used to get our wish books at the beginning of fall and I remember spending many Saturday mornings looking through them making lists.

….or Sears Catalog…..(which I just read they’re making a quiet comeback) ! I can remember getting a lot of catalogs during the holiday season….now you have to request one with some retailers.

For me, it was F.A.O. Schwartz’ toy windows. Gone with the dodo.

When I was a kid we had a Monkey Wards but it was a small kiosk building with catalog sales only.

Monkey Wards and Sears were in the next town over from ours. 40 miles away. It was not a trip often made. We got the catalogs…marked one or two items and hoped for the best. Santa did not often stop in our neck of the woods.

I recall spending hours perusing the Montgomery Wards, Sears, Western Auto and other catalogs; dog-earing the pages and writing down the page numbers, items, prices, etc on a list. Then whittling down my list to just a few items that I thought I might have a chance of getting. Sometimes I did…

I received an Amazon toy catalog in the mail. Gave me a nostalgic feeling.

I really loved the Toy Land floors that Sears and Goldblatt’s had in the “old days”.

There are stores no more galore.

That’s Monkey Ward to us pros, Jake.

Wards, Sears, Penneys, all the great mall anchors or even greater stand alone stores. I remember the pneumatic tube ordering systems they had. Magic to a 10 year old, whoosh and go wait for your number to be called to pick up your treasures!

There’s a small-business toy store in my city. They sent us a look book, so I had my son (5 yrs) look through it and circle things for a Christmas list. Go figure, nearly all of his choices were either for babies/toddlers, or for ages 10+. ☺️

Another catalog from The Bay (Hudson’s Bay Company) arrived in the post this morning. And about 7 emails from them as well. Still going strong after 350 years.