The "The Decline Of The Large Retailers In Lancaster, PA" Story

Foreword:  A short time ago Lancaster's newspaper featured a story on page 1 telling that the local Sears store would close in March.  The story that follows was written in early November, before I knew the exact date of closing.

It was an ordinary day.  Hopping on my Craftsman mower to collect the fallen leaves.  Have been doing that fall chore since we moved to our beach house in Lancaster, Pennsylvania about 20 years ago.  One of the first purchases we made when we moved was a riding mower, since walking behind a smaller push mower on an acre of land gets pretty old.  And, we were told by a fellow who repairs mowers that the best on the market was the Craftsman sold by Sears.  My neighbor had a pickup truck and he and I along with my sons made a trip to the Sears store to pick up the mower.  I have used it every summer for over 20 years now and with a few tune-ups it has given me great service.  Then, a couple of days ago I read in the newspaper that Sears was going out of business.  How can that be?  Tough to tell how many items we have bought at the store at the Park City Mall in Lancaster County.  

Shopping Mall entrance to Sears

Sears came to Lancaster when they opened a store on Penn Square in 1933 in downtown Lancaster.  That was eight years after the mail-order merchant diversified into bricks-and-mortar retailing.  It stood at the same location where a large fountain now stands.  Eventually business in Lancaster grew and Sears, Roebuck and Co., the official company name with the "and" spelled out and Co. abbreviated, moved to 40 E. King Street in 1941.  Then in 1958 they moved to the newly opened Lancaster Shopping Center and was one of the first large retailers to leave center city Lancaster.  

An advertisement for Sears, Roebuck and Co.

Then in 1972 they became one of the first four anchors at Park City when they moved into their 158,000 square foot store.  With the growth of e-commerce retailers in the last couple of years, Sears is vacating their Park City Center store following Bon-Ton and perhaps J.C. Penney which is also on the ropes.  Only Boscovs still remains.  Sears had purchased discount retailer K-Mart a few years ago and the K-Mart store near my house closed in March of 2017.  

An older Sears store logo.

There are still a few K-Mart stores in Lancaster County that are still open, but it may be just a matter of time before they follow the lead of Sears and close.  Retail stores are closing left and right in Lancaster.  Not too long ago Toys R Us closed their doors.  Retail giants seem to be succumbing to the large online websites such as Amazon and eBay.  I must admit I buy many items online since it so much easier to do so and the price is usually less than the big retailers.  The big online companies do have big work forces and all the delivery services, including the US Postal Service  seem to be hiring more people to deliver the products.  I hate to see all the big retailers going under, but as I get older it is so much easier to shop online.  

Ad for Sears homes.

Sears was responsible for introducing America to Build-it-yourself houses when they sold kits with names like Croydon and Alhanbra.  There were actually 447 styles of homes which were featured in the Sears catalogs with illustrations of finished interiors.  One design was modeled after Mount Vernon, George Washington's plantation house in Virginia, but was called the Jefferson.  You bought the home and framing lumber, nails, varnish, carved staircase parts and plumbing components were delivered to you.  You needed to supply the builder, but the cost was considerably less than a conventional house.  

Sears even sold motor buggies.

Today the Sears homes are the subject of many books.  Many homes had a Sears Catalog as reading matter.  Then in 1966 Sears opened an art gallery in Chicago selling works by Chagall, Picasso, Miro and Andrew Wyeth.  Sears sold more the 50,000 pieces of fine art in 1971 when it ended it art sales.  Today Costco is exploring the fine arts market.  Sears will be missed I'm sure.   Luckily I found that the Ace Hardware distributors in Lancaster County are now selling Craftsman tools and maybe in the future will add the riding mowers.  Of course, my current mower may last until I decide to give someone else a chance to mow grass and move into a retirement home.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.