The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 13
Sears Town the
weekend prior to its
grand opening in 1957.
Roanoke's Sears Town
was meticulously designed
with every detail
calibrated to enhance the
shopping experience.
became the manager
of the Sears store at
Tallahassee, Florida.
In 1956, Sears moved
Sellers to Roanoke for
the purpose of launching
Sears Town.
Roanoke's Sears
Town was meticulously
designed with every
detail calibrated to
enhance the shopping
experience. The store
used over one hundred
color schemes from the
Sears Harmony House
Plan, all available in the
paint department. Sears
had conducted extensive
marketing research to
determine the hues to
which customers would
respond favorably.
S hoppers wer e
treated to a variety of background music -
classic, semi-classic and popular. The music
played was " scientifically selected " according to
company officials to coordinate with the time
of day and what Sears believed were the corresponding
moods of shoppers. Sellers stated,
" The system is not designed as entertainment
but to increase the shopping and working pleasure
of our customers and employees. "
The large windows were the most noticeable
architectural feature of Sears Town, and
like all other aspects of the retail center were
trend-setting in their use. Rather than the typical
display windows used by retailers to showcase
seasonal items, Sears Town devised what
they called " visual front windows " that put the
entire store on display for passing motorists
and pedestrians. Nothing inside interfered with
the view of seeing the entire range of merchandise,
and that meant having items displayed on
lower shelves near the front with shelves rising
taller toward the rear.
What set Sears Town apart, locally and
nationally, was the company's corporate decision
to leave America's downtowns and establish
mall-like retail centers where shoppers
could find almost everything. Sears' executives
had foreseen the seismic shift in shopping patterns
with the impact of the automobile.
Considered revolutionary at the time, Sears
began to design their
stores with the " driving
shopper " in mind.
For Roanoke's Sears
Town that meant an
adjacent service station
and an expansive
parking lot that could
accommodate 650 cars.
Sears, which had been
on Church Avenue in
downtown Roanoke
since 1929, closed that
location four days prior
to the opening of their
new mega-store.
On opening day, a
Wednesday, an estimated
five thousand
shoppers poured
through the main
entrance when the store
unlocked its doors at
9:30 a.m. Roanoke
Vice-Mayor W. B.
Carter and Sellers held
a ribbon-cutting ceremony
using garden
Full page ads ran in Roanoke newspapers
touting the city's " one-stop shopping center. "
TheRoanoker.com
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 13
shears. The first recorded purchase, a garden
hose, was made by Mrs. J. R. Toms of Roanoke.
The previous night, Roanoke's business and
civic leaders had been given a tour followed
by a dinner at Hotel Roanoke. Sears' vice president,
Charles Kellstadt, addressed the gathering
boasting, " Sears does business with one of
every three families in the nation. "
With over 500 employees, Sears Town was
cutting edge for Roanoke's retail scene and a
harbinger of the decline in downtown Roanoke
as a retail center in the late '50s and early '60s.
When a Kroger opened adjacent to the megastore,
most shoppers really could find everything
at the one-stop, park-for-free, blocklong
Sears Town. Even Santa Claus made
more grandiose entrances there, arriving each
Christmas by helicopter.
A few years after its opening, Sears Town
was followed by Towers Shopping Center,
Roanoke-Salem Plaza and Crossroads Mall.
Each contributed to the demise of downtown's
retail. But in the summer of '57, all headed to
Sears Town where it was " satisfaction guaranteed
or your money back. " I
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The Roanoker November/December 2022
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Roanoker November/December 2022
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Cover1
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Cover2
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 3
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 4
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 5
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 6
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 7
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 8
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 9
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 11
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 12
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 13
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 14
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 15
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 17
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 18
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 19
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 20
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 21
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 24
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 25
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 26
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 46
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 47
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 48
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 49
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 50
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining1
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining2
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining3
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining4
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining5
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining6
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining7
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining8
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining9
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining10
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining11
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining12
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining13
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining14
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining15
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining16
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining17
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining18
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining19
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining20
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining21
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining22
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining23
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining24
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining25
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining26
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining27
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining28
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining29
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining30
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining31
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Dining32
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 51
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 53
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 63
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 67
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 69
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The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 81
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - 82
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Cover3
The Roanoker November/December 2022 - Cover4
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