In 1895, Richard W. Sears began planning and writing the soon-to-be-famous Sears catalogs.

After being purchased and reorganized by clothing manufacturing mogul Julius Rosenwald, the company began to grow exponentially.

The company specialized in selling low-cost merchandise to rural areas that did not have access to stores. These would-be customers would receive the Sears catalog in the mail. The catalogs shot the company to insane popularity, with many comparing its rise to fame to that of Amazon.