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The Wish Book

Sears & Roebuck, also known simply as Sears, was once America’s store, at least in my mind. Sometime in the fall it would arrive in the mail, colorful and thick. The Sears “Wish Book” was chock full of just about everything you could imagine, but most important for the kids, the toy section was what I looked forward to the most.

I would pore over the catalog from the time it arrived, right up until the days before Christmas. I would proceed to circle the toys that I was hoping for (which were quite a few) and then show mom the desires of my heart. She would quickly look it over and cut it down to size. One or two things was what I was allowed to ask for in the end, but it was never easy for me to narrow it down.

During the rest of the year, we would sometimes order items from the catalog, mostly clothes my mom would order for me—nothing exciting as far as I was concerned. The packages didn’t arrive in the mail however. In what is today the Richlin shopping plaza on Cherry Hill Road, there was a small Sears outlet store. It would either be a notice in the mail or a phone call (I can’t remember) telling you when your order was ready for pickup. My cousin’s wife worked at the store and I would often see her behind the counter as she would retrieve my package.

Today we can find just about anything money can buy on the Internet and it is shipped right to our front door. No middleman. Sears has fallen on hard times and has been overtaken by the likes of Walmart and Target in terms of popularity. For me, the closest thing I can think of in terms of a “wish book”, at least when my kids were little, was the Toys R Us Christmas catalog. Wow, how times have changed.

Mike Russo is a lifelong Branford resident and proud parent of two children.