Christmas Catalogue with Everything Under the Sun

Alvah sat relaxing with a cup of hot coffee on the porch of his home at 7263 Summitrose St. in Tujunga. The rain had finally stopped and the sun had broken through. He turned as he heard some rustling behind the bushes and out popped his neighbor’s young daughter Julia.

“Hello, Julia, what brings you over today?” he inquired. 

“I have a report to write for school, and Dad says you have a good story,” she answered. 

“Your dad said that, huh?” Alvah replied with a smile. “Come take a seat, my dear, and I’ll tell my tale.” 

This was December 1947 when Alvah shared his story.

“I was a young man doing my job, repairing a pocket watch in the corner of a jewelry shop outside of Chicago, when I spotted a wanted ad in the newspaper,” Alvah began. “The ad was seeking a watch repairman and I replied. Only days later I met with Richard, the man responsible for the ad, and he had big plans.” 

Julia was frantic, her pencil flying across the paper, trying to keep up. 

Alvah continued, “We went into business together, Richard and I, but little did I know that what we started that day would grow to become the largest retail merchandise business in the world!” 

“The whole world, Mr. Roebuck?!” Julia repeated excitedly. “Yes, that’s absolutely true; Richard Sears and I founded Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1893, and it grew – oh, did it grow!”

Julia was eager now for more. She could envision the grade she would receive for her report. 
“What happened next?” she asked. 

“Actually, things didn’t go so well. Richard, my partner, was a very talented man. He was well-equipped for the insanity of the business world whereas I was not. We started just selling watches but soon Richard had developed a catalogue, and we were selling everything under the sun. That Sears catalogue was everywhere. It was too much for me and I asked Richard to buy me out just years later.” 

“Buy you out?” Julia shouted. “But didn’t you stand to make big bucks?” 

“That I did, I did indeed,” he said, “but I had other plans.”

And so, as the story goes, Alvah Curtis Roebuck left the company he had founded with Richard Warren Sears with little more than $20,000 for his efforts. He would go on to work in the fields of motion picture projectors, typewriters and real estate investments. Despite his departure, the company retained its name – Sears, Roebuck & Company – and continued to grow. All was well until the great stock market crash of October 1929. Alvah lost everything.

Out of desperation, Roebuck returned to the company he had co-founded. Richard Sears had passed years earlier at the young age of 50. Initially, Alvah was hired to do various jobs. Eventually, he would go on to document the company’s history. In 1934, he began touring. He appeared at dozens of Sears stores across the country over the following several years and thoroughly enjoyed the enthusiastic crowds he encountered. As he aged and slowed, a decision was made for him to move into the modest home on Summitrose with his son Alvah Jr., who had made his way to Tujunga in the 1940s.

I invented the story involving Julia’s visit but the facts shared are true. Alvah Roebuck had long wished to head west and at the end of his life he found peace here in the Crescenta Valley. Once, when asked how he felt about all the money he’d lost by departing the company while Mr. Sears had become such a wealthy man, he replied, “Mr. Sears is dead; I’ve never felt better, so I’d say I’m doing just fine.”