The American department store chain Sears, Roebuck and Co. was founded in 1892 by Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck and started as a mail-order watch catalogue but quickly expanded to include sewing machines, toys, clothing, appliances, and more. Sears stores began opening in the 1920s with catalogue sales ever increasing through their peak in the 1970s.
Sears sold toys from other brands (often in special exclusive set variants or outfits) as well as imported toys under their own name. In the early 1970s, boxes were blue and marked as part of the Sears Big Toy Box, with similar fonts and packaging designs. In the mid 1970s the Big Toy Box name was dropped in favor of simply Sears. In the later 1970s, boxes changed to having a lighter rim with the toy on a dark background on the front. Many of these toys were also sold at and by Sears Canada, also known as Simpsons-Sears, with boxes marked for sale in both regions.
Collected here are some of the Sears-sold toys, many produced by Tomy, that have piqued my interest and are part of my toy collection.
Year | Toy name | Description | Photo |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | Coast to Coast Motorized Railroad | Giant Sears-exclusive Child Guidance Railroad set featuring over 30 feet of track, motorized amusement park train, and lots of buildings and accessories | |
1969 | Motorized Shuttle Train | Another Child Guidance train, this time entirely manufactured by Tomy in Japan and sold first at Sears for Christmas 1969 | |
1970 | Giant Crane | Another Tomy-made toy, large motorized crane with rotating arm, moving jib, and claw that can grip, rotate, and lift; sold throughout the early 1970s and later in a manual hand-crank version in yellow and black | |
1972 | Highway Police Chase | Tomy "Plahighway" export set for Sears with police cruiser chasing a red car around a highway interchange with remote-control junctions and toll booth stopper | |
1975 | Flippity Flyer | Imported toy from Japanese maker Toy Town, motorized airplane that completes a climbing, flipping, diving stunt show | |
1975 | Highway Police Chase | Smaller export Plahighway set with police cruiser and red car on a highway interchange | |
1978 | Crazy Loco | Sears branded version of the classic Toy Town locomotive stunt-show toy with flipping, speeding train | |
1978 | Crazy Stunt Machine | Sears import version of the larger Jeep-style motorized gravity trackway toy by Toy Town |