What Sears sold, as much as merchandise, was a sense of well being, belonging, and prosperity. Good, solid, middle class value. It's hard for us to understand in these days of rampant prosperity, where people are flooded with "stuff", and anything you want, you just go down to Wal-Mart and fill your cart with. Even those that are in our poverty class can easily buy more stuff than most people had 50 years ago. And, things that were coveted and saved for and cherished then, are now regarded by most impoverished citizens as necessities.
Even if you had to save for it, or pay for it on lay-away, everything that you got at Sears represented something that put you into the same class as your neighbors, gave you capabilities to do middle-class things, and generally improved your life. To be able to go down to Sears, buy a mechanics set and a 20 inch hand carry box to hold it in and then be able to fix every single item on your 57 chevy pickup gave the owners an unbelievable feeling of freedom and wealth and self-reliance. By investing once in the tools, they were free of the threat of a high unexpected repair bill, and gave them a solid savings in maintenance costs every time they changed the plugs, points, or oil. The household tools gave them the ability to do improvements and additions to their homes, a bit at a time, as they could afford it. Sears and what it sold represented prosperity and freedom.
No wonder people are nostalgic for it.
I'm with you on the thought that it's mediocre. As I owned Proto and SK and Wright and Indestro and Snap-on, it became apparent that Craftsman was just "good enough", not great. But, it was good enough to find it's way into 95% of the middle class homes in America. And, to improve the lives of those that had it. And, to make them feel good about it.
