Before Walmart, Target and Kmart, there was Sage's Complete Shopping

[joeekaitis]

Today's The Mega Brands That Built America features the three chains in the subject but not a single mention of regional ahead-of-the-times chains like Sage's Complete Shopping in San Bernardino county. The one in Rialto had a grocery store, a hot foods deli, a coffee shop, jewelry department, women's fashion clothing, some men's and children's clothing, a camera/TV/electronics department with a tube tester, liquor department, cosmetics, sundries and a garden shop all in one store.

Sage's were superstores before anyone ever used the word "superstore".

 

[phillymatt53]

LOL, the mention of those drugstore "tube testers" reminds me of the early greed that some stores had....
Those "do it yourself" tube testers were rigged with a secret "behind the counter" switch that the salesmen could activate, making the tester show tubes as being bad.
Naturally this increased sales..... dishonestly.
At Penn Electronics, in the mid 1970's, we had one in our store where I sold stereo equipment, but it was a commonplace gadget from what I heard.

 

[qsd-dan]

Our Target was previously a Gemco. The switch happened around mid 1987.

 

[pierreandreply4]

i know there are furniture stores that sell appliances but would be nice if there was specialise stores that sells appliances where in store either its a modern topload he vmw or vmax model or front or vintage old school beltdrive or direct drive of earlier years thats are all hookup where the consumer could ask to see the washer or dryer in action like in this video for exemple and it would also help the buyer make there choice like for exemple seeing a maytag mvw6230hw2 washer in action and the speed queen tc5 using these 2 models as exemples and a frontload would help consumers with there purchuse and ask the right questions to the sale clerck

 

[vacerator]

The specialty shops have all but gone. Even for groceries. A&P, etc. Good Housekeeping, Circuit City, etc. I bought my stereo system from Tech HiFi in 1979. Even K Mart had a small audio room. The catalogue showrooms were nice too. Spiegel had stores as well. I've read about Pacific stereo stores. They even had a store brand, Quadraflex.
Today there are a few ultra high end audiophile shops but no others where you can listen and compare before buying.
Crutchfield in Virginia is a big multi brand dealer online and has two stores in the Charlottesville area. You have to read review's and between the lines to choose a component. At least they have a 60 day return policy and free shipping.