The Amazing History of Shopping in America

When Tim* was 12, he desperately wanted a bicycle. For weeks, he’d worked odd jobs—babysitting, feeding his neighbor’s pig, anything for some extra cash.

Now, Tim finally had enough money. But where would he buy his bicycle? He couldn’t hop on Amazon. He couldn’t ask his parents to take him to Walmart. In fact, there was no place to buy a bicycle for many miles.

Was this because Tim lived on a remote island? Or a far-flung outpost in the Arctic? No—Tim lived on a farm in Alabama. But it was 1902. Back then, Amazon didn’t exist. There were no Walmarts. And across America, most stores were small, with a limited selection of items.

Luckily Tim had another option: the Sears catalog.

The Sears catalog was a whole new way to shop. It was thousands of pages long, and it had hundreds of thousands of items for sale. All you had to do was send Sears a letter saying what you wanted and include the cash to pay for it. A few weeks later, your purchase would arrive in the mail.

For Tim and millions of other Americans, the Sears catalog was a dream come true.

Tim was growing up during a time of enormous change in America. New factories were churning out the latest fashions at breakneck speeds. Incredible new inventions, such as the telephone and the sewing machine, were making life easier and more enjoyable.

But not for everyone. Most of this exciting change was happening in cities, and the majority of Americans lived on farms, where life was very different.

In the city, you could pop into a department store for whatever you needed—whether it was a pair of socks or a fancy new stove. On a farm, that wasn’t an option. You could go to a town, but it was probably at least a day’s journey by horse. And once you got there, the only store you’d find would be a general store. These shops tended to be small and expensive. There was virtually no way to buy the kinds of amazing items available in cities.

So farm families fended for themselves. They made everything by hand—soap, furniture, curtains. They stitched their own shirts and pants and dresses. They made their own toys from wood and whatever else was around—buttons, scraps of fabric, even rocks.

That is, until the Sears catalog came along.

It was the mid-1990s, and a young man named Jeff had a big idea. People were talking about this strange new thing called the internet, and Jeff was certain it was the future of business.

So in July 1995, he quit his job, took $10,000 of his own savings, and started a business selling books online. He and a small team of employees spent the summer in his garage in Bellevue, Washington, working on their website, packaging up books, and mailing shipments to customers.

Turns out, Jeff was right about the internet. His website was a hit.

In fact, you may have heard of it.

It’s called Amazon. 

Today, the company that Jeff Bezos founded brings in more than $200 billion every year—selling not only books but just about everything imaginable. Amazon accounts for 40 percent of all online sales in America and has become a go-to store for needs big and small.

Not so long ago, a business like Amazon would have been unimaginable. Buying shoes meant either getting in the car and driving to a store or picking up the telephone and ordering them from a catalog. In the mid-1990s, most Americans didn’t even own computers.

But that was changing. Computers were getting smaller and less expensive. More families began buying them to “surf the net”—that is, to access the internet.

And with the internet came an amazing new way to shop. All you had to do was click on what you wanted and enter your credit card information and address. In about a week, your purchase would arrive at your front door.

At first, many people were skeptical. Some believed that online shopping was a silly fad that would soon pass. Others thought it was unsafe. After all, the internet was new and unfamiliar. People were wary of handing over their personal information to some faceless machine.

But it was only a matter of time before the internet revolutionized how people shopped. 

By 1999, Americans were spending more than $5 billion online. By 2000, Amazon alone had made about $2.4 billion in sales. It was clear that the convenience of online shopping had overshadowed any fears about the new technology.

But it wasn’t just convenience that brought people around to the idea of buying things online. So-called e-commerce sites like Amazon began adding features that improved the online shopping experience. Many sites let shoppers leave public reviews and ratings. Instead of talking to a salesperson, you can read hundreds of opinions from other shoppers like you.

What’s more, delivery got faster. Today, things you order online can arrive on your doorstep within a day or two—and sometimes even the same day. With that kind of speed, why bother trekking to a store?

This article was originally published in the October 2019 issue.