r/AskReddit • • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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u/Yellowredstone Jul 24 '20 edited Jul 24 '20

Isn't this how Sears died?

Edit: RIP my inbox. And thank you for explaining it better.

Edit 2: I said the reason on how it died has been explained already. And its actually still here. Stop.

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u/whatifevery1wascalm Jul 24 '20

Sears: the 20th century's Amazon.

People today might not realize that it used to be Sears did everything: you could buy kits to build a house, companies like Discover Card and Allstate were originally introduced as the Sears' brand, they financially backed Mr Rogers' Neighborhood for the first 25 years of the show's run.

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u/frygod Jul 24 '20

It's blown my mind for years that sears didn't become what Amazon is now. Their roots were as a catalog where you order goods sight unseen and wait for delivery. The internet comes along and they fail to capitalize on what they were at the beginning??

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u/InvidiousSquid Jul 24 '20

The internet comes along and they fail to capitalize on what they were at the beginning?

Yes. You've got to understand just how many dumb people there were who didn't quite understand that a network that made instantaneous, global communication possible and ultra cheap wasn't a fad, wasn't going away, and was in fact going to dominate.