Sears Had Long History in Bossier City

Walking through Pierre Bossier Mall, there is no indication that its east end was home to Sears. Gone is the Sears sign that once hung above the mall entrance to the store, that entrance now blocked by a security gate. Beyond the gate, darkness inhabits the space once filled with everything from clothing and homewares to appliances and tools. Sears’ ending stands in stark contrast to its beginning in Bossier City sixty-nine years ago.

A simple, straight-to-the-point headline appeared in the November 30, 1956 edition of the Bossier Press newspaper, “Sears Opens Bossier Store.” The Heart of Bossier Shopping Center, at the intersection of Old Minden and Benton Roads, had been chosen as the store’s site. The accompanying article described the structure: “The 18,000 square foot building is in the same architectural model as the rest of the Big Chain Center of which it is a part. Modern in every detail, it includes a super service station, a customer catalog desk, and 18 complete departments.” Store advertisements featured products like 21-inch television sets for $148 that brought a “photo-sharp picture right into your living room” and Kenmore automatic washers for $188 that were “like having 2 washers in 1 with one speed for regular fabrics and a slower speed for delicate fabrics.”

That the word modern was applied to the store was no surprise. According to the Bossier Press article, the store was designed by the firm founded by noted modernist architect William B. Wiener. He and his half-brother Samuel were responsible for bringing the European Modernist style of design to Shreveport and Bossier. The article called the store “an important new milestone in the commercial history of Bossier City.” Hired to manage this milestone was Texas native Forest Vaughn, who, according to the same Bossier Press article, had previously worked as an assistant manager for Sears in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Sears began in 1892 as a mail-order watch and jewelry business founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in Chicago. The business quickly grew, thanks in no small part to its ever-expanding catalog. In 1933, the first Christmas Wish Book was published. An article from July 25, 2017 in Smithsonian Magazine states, “By the early 20th century, Sears was already a household name across the United States, one that represented rural thrift and industry as well as material abundance and consumer pleasures.” Across the country, Sears stores began springing up. According to the magazine article, more than 700 stores were in operation in the U.S. by the mid-1950s.

The Bossier store moved into a larger building in the Heart of Bossier in 1966 with nearly 50,000 square feet of floor space and another 7,700 square feet for an automotive service center. Bossier newspaper accounts of the move quoted Forest Vaughn stating the store’s size reflected the company’s confidence in Bossier’s continued growth. “We feel sure that our Bossier City friends, on visiting the new store, will agree with our slogan, ‘Sears has everything’,” he said. The store served customers at that location for the next 16 years until moving into Pierre Bossier Mall in March 1982.

With much fanfare, Sears was the first store to open in the mall. A ribbon cutting was held and grand opening sales were offered. For 36 years, Sears was an anchor store for the mall. But as Sears corporate fortunes declined, so too did those of the Bossier store and many Sears locations around the country. By the summer of 2018, local newspapers were carrying advertisements for the Bossier and Shreveport

Sears stores, proclaiming in bold type, “Store Closing,” “Everything Priced to Sell.” By September that year, the stores were history. The changing landscape of how we purchase goods and services was a factor in the demise of this former icon of American business. Oh, to be a kid again looking at the toys in the Christmas Wish Book one more time.

If you have any photos or other information relating to the history of Bossier City or Bossier Parish, the History Center may be interested in adding the materials to its research collection by donation or by scanning them and returning the originals. Call or visit us to learn more. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org. We can also be found online at https://www.facebook.com/BPLHistoryCenter/ and http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/

Images: 

•  Former entrance to Sears in Pierre Bossier Mall/Kevin Flowers
• Advertisement for new Sears location in Bossier/Bossier Press, Nov. 30, 1956

Article by: Kevin Flowers