A few months ago, upon the sunset of my venture from shooting various procrastinated sites in the New Haven area, I was trekking northbound on I-95 and noticed nothing short of a marvel; a red-lettered Sears building.
Around Exit 42 on Interstate 95, on the West Haven (Connecticut) border, I peered off to the right and noticed in all caps, a red-clad, thinner "SEARS" logo shimmering (in its age) from behind skeletal shrubbery. Knowing of no malls in these areas, flabbergasted in surprise, I immediately veered off the highway, attempting to make ways to finding out more of this estranged Sears building, located a good distance from Westfield Connecticut Post, who has its own, well up-to-date Sears anchoring the mall. Unfortunately, my flawed navigational woes trumped my finding of it (how hard could it be to find something visible just off the highway?). Pressed with time, I made my way back to Farmington.
Upon a recent trip out that way, I made it a bulletpoint to find it, and grab an elusive photo of 1970's-era Sears signage in all its glory. We probably couldn't have arrived in worse timing seeing as a West Haven Police patroller was camped in the rear of the lot and workers (one of which apparently screamed at me as I grabbed that close-up) flanked the sides of the building. Nonetheless, I exercised a journalistic drive of "leave no(t too many) image(s) behind!" Despite its visibility from the highway, it takes a good couple minutes of making a huge loop around to actually arrive at it among the sea of an industrial sector it's located within Frontage Road.
Upon doing some research, we found this facility is actually a Sears Appliance Outlet which also serves as a Home Central. It's rather isolated, which explains its neglected appearance and equally rare red-lettering dating back to the early-to-mid 1970's, when the signage was common on many mall fronts, lastly phasing out to the brunt of many mid-to-late 1990's renovations, long beyond its (commonly known) "chunky pinstripe" logo which debuted in 1984. Over the years, other variants released in this style consisted of red, white and black over its time (much like the 1984 logo seen in excess today, also phased by the company's new "lowercase" version) which now find themselves either scarred on older locations or almost extinct on many Sears locations across the country.
I don't know what it is but I've recently become fascinated with many Sears storefronts which really haven't changed in mold over the years with a staple-framed interior entrance who've since been faced uniform into tiled and trimmed designs today (with more sale and clearance signs than the company would've liked to see in their futures). Those exteriors, however, have certainly been left behind or appeal heavily vestigial appear to be overwhelming at many of today's malls.
Here's a collection of some favorite oldies we've captured ourselves in travels, which don't even strike a match at some wickedly old ones around middle America and mirrored on the ever-resourcefulness of the pictorial Ames Fan Club forums. Don't forget about Malls of America, who has their assorted collection of respective era shots of better times for Sears and even our pals at Labelscar who've recovered many images of the company's today looks.
SEARS (EXTERIOR SIDE ENTRANCE) AT THE MALL AT WHITNEY FIELD (FORMERLY KNOWN AS SEARSTOWN MALL); LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS, BUILT IN 1968.
SEARS (ANGLED MERCHANDISE PICK-UP ENTRANCES) AT DANBURY FAIR MALL; DANBURY, CONNECTICUT, BUILT IN 1986.
SEARS (EXTERIOR FRONTAL ENTRANCE) AT EASTFIELD MALL; SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, BUILT IN 1968.
SEARS (INTERIOR ENTRANCES) AT THE HOLYOKE MALL AT INGLESIDE; HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, BUILT IN 1979.
SEARS (INTERIOR UPPER-LEVEL ENTRANCE) AT WESTFIELD CONNECTICUT POST; MILFORD, CONNECTICUT, BUILT IN 1993.
Around Exit 42 on Interstate 95, on the West Haven (Connecticut) border, I peered off to the right and noticed in all caps, a red-clad, thinner "SEARS" logo shimmering (in its age) from behind skeletal shrubbery. Knowing of no malls in these areas, flabbergasted in surprise, I immediately veered off the highway, attempting to make ways to finding out more of this estranged Sears building, located a good distance from Westfield Connecticut Post, who has its own, well up-to-date Sears anchoring the mall. Unfortunately, my flawed navigational woes trumped my finding of it (how hard could it be to find something visible just off the highway?). Pressed with time, I made my way back to Farmington.
Upon doing some research, we found this facility is actually a Sears Appliance Outlet which also serves as a Home Central. It's rather isolated, which explains its neglected appearance and equally rare red-lettering dating back to the early-to-mid 1970's, when the signage was common on many mall fronts, lastly phasing out to the brunt of many mid-to-late 1990's renovations, long beyond its (commonly known) "chunky pinstripe" logo which debuted in 1984. Over the years, other variants released in this style consisted of red, white and black over its time (much like the 1984 logo seen in excess today, also phased by the company's new "lowercase" version) which now find themselves either scarred on older locations or almost extinct on many Sears locations across the country.
I don't know what it is but I've recently become fascinated with many Sears storefronts which really haven't changed in mold over the years with a staple-framed interior entrance who've since been faced uniform into tiled and trimmed designs today (with more sale and clearance signs than the company would've liked to see in their futures). Those exteriors, however, have certainly been left behind or appeal heavily vestigial appear to be overwhelming at many of today's malls.
Here's a collection of some favorite oldies we've captured ourselves in travels, which don't even strike a match at some wickedly old ones around middle America and mirrored on the ever-resourcefulness of the pictorial Ames Fan Club forums. Don't forget about Malls of America, who has their assorted collection of respective era shots of better times for Sears and even our pals at Labelscar who've recovered many images of the company's today looks.
SEARS (EXTERIOR SIDE ENTRANCE) AT THE MALL AT WHITNEY FIELD (FORMERLY KNOWN AS SEARSTOWN MALL); LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS, BUILT IN 1968.
SEARS (ANGLED MERCHANDISE PICK-UP ENTRANCES) AT DANBURY FAIR MALL; DANBURY, CONNECTICUT, BUILT IN 1986.
SEARS (EXTERIOR FRONTAL ENTRANCE) AT EASTFIELD MALL; SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, BUILT IN 1968.
SEARS (INTERIOR ENTRANCES) AT THE HOLYOKE MALL AT INGLESIDE; HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS, BUILT IN 1979.
SEARS (INTERIOR UPPER-LEVEL ENTRANCE) AT WESTFIELD CONNECTICUT POST; MILFORD, CONNECTICUT, BUILT IN 1993.
