Sears means a great deal to me. Not because I ever shopped there. Because they were one of the biggest, if not the biggest, retailer of clothing in Canada. And that means they bought more Canadian-made clothing than anyone. They were the foundation of the shmata industry. Which also means that they supported my family for at least two generations. My grandfather Sam Solomon (Sample Manufacturing Corp.) and my dad (Carla Jane Dress Inc.) sold millions of garments to Sears over the years, both through their stores, but more importantly through their catalogue. Sam was the industry innovator of the private label dress business and Sears (the label I remember best was 'Jessica') was his biggest customer for a long time. Some of my fondest memories growing up came from being in dad's office and listening to him and his brothers Hy and Charlie talk about Sears 'check-out' of their styles and the 'back-up' Sears was demanding for their catalogue. Sears always pushed them to innovate. They were the first to demand that their suppliers use computer coding to maintain inventory for 'just-in-time' supply management. In more recent years, as manufactured garments turned to imports, Sears demanded rebates from suppliers on exchange rates, which gave my dad fits. They also imposed prohibitive penalties for late delivery. But there was no way of getting around the terms Sears demanded. They were simply too big and important to the industry to shun their business. The more Sears scrimped and saved to try to survive in the last decade, the more obvious it became the industry as we'd known it was on its last legs. With the writing on the wall, my cousins decided to close the business founded in 1949 a year after dad died in 2012.
PS. The cartoon was something I drew in '99 using the pseudonym Solomon as a tribute to my grandfather.
1 comment:
Hi Glen, Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Marlene, which probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but in a search for long- lost family your name and blog popped up. I’m familiar with Carla Jane as well as with your Uncle C. who was married to my mom’s first cousin, S. I spent Passover at their home at least once as a child (perhaps we met then?) although more often at the cousin S’s mother’s home. They lived in Montreal but my mom also (S) had married an American and our small family would drive from NYC to Montreal frequently to see grandparents and extended family. I leave names out here but it would be lovely to have a longer conversation if you’re interested. If you want to verify you might try checking with your uncle C’s eldest son. C had surgery and, as I remember, his wife was having a hard time coping. My mom spent a lot of time sitting in the hospital room with him and his son arranged for her to have a car to drive. I think her car needed some work. Any my mom, who loved C like a big brother, would sit in his room with him and knit. She did a lot of knitting in those days.
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