With inflation insidiously gobbling our hard earned dollars, and interest rates rising, it’s becoming rather painful to go shopping for the needs and desires of hearth and home these days.
And with regard for risks to one’s blood pressure, let’s just opt out of any mention of the skyrocketing cost of pet food currently. Crazy.
I am presently helping a very nice woman empty a house as part of an estate sale, and as the gentleman who passed was a bit of a hoarder, she is coming across boxes and boxes of brand new things, bought, perused, stored, remaining untouched from back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
One of those boxes contains as new Sears and Eatons catalogues, so I asked a few Mustard On Everything readers what they might like to shop for if we could take a trip back in time. The catalogues I’m inviting them to shop in being from the mid 70’s.
“PLATFORM BOOTS!” says Toby McCrae, and darned if I didn’t find some, at very reasonable prices, available in the Eatons catalog, summer of ‘76. I had a pair of multi-coloured platform shoes with about a three inch heel, and I loved them. Wore them ‘til they fell apart. If they ever come back in style for men, I’ll buy another pair.
Jona Wattis would like to buy a bedroom suite, which I believe would include a dresser, but I managed to find her something even better, a Mustard coloured canopy bed that is just gorgeous (no dresser). It’s currently being sent by Fed Ex from 1975 so I wouldn’t expect it to arrive at the door anytime soon, but I’m sure it’ll show up someday. ENJOY!
You owe me $289.98. Can you make payments you ask? Certainly. $250 the first month. $39.98 the second. Anything for my loyal customers.
Gina Remillard wants appliances: “I had Kenmore Appliances that lasted forever. I wish I had kept them now.” Yes they definitely had staying power, but some of those colours, wicked.
Val Surbey says she was a huge fan of these catalogs way back when: “We would wait with excitement for the Christmas catalog and my guys would shop there for their gifts from Santa, and of course, from Mom and Dad. We would often have to get more than one catalogue so they could each have their own. I did most of my Christmas shopping from those books.”
A few readers asked if they could buy a home. Both Sears and Eatons used to sell pre-fab homes through their catalogues. Many of them are still standing, still home sweet home for many families, outlasting even those ugly appliances. Not to mention that indestructible shag carpeting. Mercy. Combine shag carpeting with a world full of chain smokers and you had a stink that would last til eternity, especially in humid weather. Back then, I was contributing to it.
If I could go back for a quick shop, it would be for the Sears 1975 “best console stereo, eight-track player, recorder, for just $509.98 (Cash or $19 monthly).”
That is a bit steep for those days, when you consider that many people just made in the $500 per month range. But the sound was so worth it, coming from an “all solid-state chassis with AM/FM/FM stereo/phono/8 track play and record.”
“Converts to matrix 4-channel with extra speakers (not included), or lets you play stereo independently in two rooms.”
Wow, a far cry from the old wind up Victrola record player that was still in regular use just a few years prior. Oh how home life has changed in the past 100 years or so.
I mean, I’d starve without a microwave oven.
A retro shopping trip. What fun that would be huh? Not gonna’ happen kids, so spend today’s pennies wisely. Have a great weekend!
Comments and column ideas welcome at lmustard1948@gmail.com
