Farewell, Sears. It’s been a nice 40 years

It’s not like we shopped there every day. It’s not even like we shopped there on any kind of regular basis. But you just knew it was there. The Sears in Seaview Square, now called Seaview Square Shopping Center, was like your favorite pair of shoes: you wouldn't wear them to the fanciest parties...but boy, were you glad when you could come home and put them on.

With the latest round of closings of Sears stores, my neighborhood Sears has just shattered it's stores, and as I drove by it on Sunday, I saw it abandoned and forgotten. It truly felt like an end of an era. It wasn't like you would run there anytime you needed a fancy outfit, although you could grab clothing from there every once in a while. It may not have been your first choice for appliances either, but somehow you usually ended up there. In face, there were times where you just knew that for a dryer or a barbeque, that was where you were going to end up. Before there was Home Depot or Lowe's, there was Sears.

I think the reason that Sears has such nostalgia connected to it is that it was representative of such a simpler time: when there were two choices instead of twenty. A time where buying things actually meant getting in your car and leaving your home. Of all the iconic American stores that have closed in the last 20 years, for people of a certain age, this one really hurts. Bye, Sears. I wouldn’t have gone with you to the prom, but you were a great Tuesday night burger and a movie.

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