Jason Del Rey wrote a great article in Vox recently about the death of the department store and how that is directly linked to the demise of the American middle class. It remined me of Sears. The story of Sears illustrates his point. Fifty years ago, young married couples went to Sears to buy their appliances, furnish their new "starter houses," buy baby clothes and furniture, and, of course, buy lawn mowers, garden tools and even have the "family car" fixed. A credit card from Sears was a passport to lower middle class status. You were on the escalator to the middle class. But since the advent of the Reagan Revolution in 1980, that middle class has been shrinking steadily, as the economic escalator has gone into reverse. The anchor stores in the typical American mall were Sears, JCPenny, Lord & Taylor and Macy's. And where are those stores, and malls, and employees now? The same place the robust American middle class has gone: oblivion.
Perhaps the most iconic Sears location? The once thriving Valley Plaza mall in Bakersfield.
The Death Of Retail Is Also The Death Of The Middle Class
in Economics