Today most people think nothing of shopping online. After a quick trip to the store’s website and a few clicks of the mouse, a package quickly appears in the mailbox. It is a convenient way to shop without ever leaving home. But before the days of the internet, there was the magic of the mail order catalog.
Benjamin Franklin is credited as the first catalog seller in the British colonies for printing a catalog of books for sale. But mail order shopping didn’t catch on until the mid-nineteenth century. Montgomery Ward printed a single-page catalog in 1872. By the 1890s, it was 540 pages, and offered some 20,000 items. The company utilized the expanding railroads to deliver goods efficiently. It was a benefit to farmers who could avoid a trip to town by having products delivered to their door.
In 1888 Richard Sears started a mail order business out of his home in Redwood Falls, Minnesota when he began selling watches. By 1894 the 322-page Sears Catalog sold furniture, clothing, sewing machines, and even automobiles. JC Penney was a competitor of Sears, but a latecomer to the mail order business. The first Penney’s catalog wasn’t mailed until 1962.
But not everyone was thrilled with the mail order business. On this date in 1906, the Bottineau Courant noted that mail order selling was a threat to local retail stores, and reacted to events surrounding a special train that brought the Grand Forks Commercial Club to town. The excursion was called a “get acquainted” tour. Sixty representatives from Grand Forks met with businessmen and farmers in Bottineau. Many in the party were wholesalers hoping to find new markets for their goods. But several of the dealers also handed out “shopping by mail” fliers. The businessmen of Bottineau took note.
The newspaper did not think it was fair for businesses in Grand Forks to siphon off sales from the stores in Bottineau. The article stated that the newspaper was happy to have visitors from Grand Forks, “but,” said the article, “we have retail men at home – good ones – and we would like this Commercial Club better if they left their “shopping by mail” ideas at home when they come to get acquainted.
Dakota Datebook written by Carole Butcher
Sources:
Bottineau Courant. “They Get Acquainted.” Bottineau ND. 24 August 1906. Page 1.
J.C. Penney Company. “J.C. Penney Company, Inc. History.” http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/j-c-penney-company-inc-history/ Accessed 17 July 2018.
Cherry, Robin. The Illustrated History of Mail Order Shopping. Princeton Architectural Press. New York: 2008.
