“Sears created his empire because Montgomery Ward refused to budge from being an at home catalogue mail order company.”
In other words, they wanted to be Amazon.com before the internet came around.
And the brick and mortar chain stores like Sears and Montgomery Wards killed off the mom and pop millinery, haberdasheries, shoe, appliance, notions stores, photo developers, as well as individual clothing stores - many specialized to cater to children, men, women, uniforms, etc. ...just as
robotics will purge gainful employment from those fulfilling the Amazon orders
.
I recall walking down the main street in my childhood hometown with many mom & pop enterprises thriving. Particularly I recall the little sewing notions store in which an elderly man stood behind a counter. Customers would request what they needed and he would personally locate each needle, thread, thimble, ribbon etc. and carefully wrap each item separately in brown paper and slip the items into a paper bag.
I miss the personalization of each of those successful businesses. Sigh.