Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Remember when you could buy guns at department stores like Sears & JCPenny?

Coast to Coast.

Western Auto, Montgomery Wards, Sears, Gambles

J.M. Fields

Bought my .17 Remington at a Woolworths

‘Deed I do. First big purchase I made after starting work in 1970 was a Browning A5 Light Twelve I bought at Sears for $194.95, Fair Trade price. Prior to that, my mother bought me a Ted Williams .22 auto (Winchester in drag), and at some forgotten point, I acquired a Remington 600 .308 there.

The D.C. area had a number of membership stores over the years: G.E.M., Memco, and Best among them. I bought guns at all those, including a Sako Vixen .223 at Best for $257, and an 870 slug gun at G.E.M. For $130. IIRC, membership stores were exempt from the Fair Trade pricing. Access to membership was limited at first, to government employees (G.E.M.) or employees of large companies like Ma Bell, and was free. Later, perhaps because of the repeal of Fair Trade, those stores opened up membership to more people, and eventually dropped it (Memco), or went under. None of those I mentioned were warehouse stores, rather they were much like good department stores, especially Best, which sold a lot of jewelry. The Sako is sadly long gone, but I still have and use a Swift 7x50 bino purchased there in 1976 for $135.

One of the bigger LGS owners locally got his start in the business behind the J.C. Penney sporting goods counter.

Bought mine in 71 or 72 when I was 12 or 13, pretty sure Winchester was making the Ted Williams 30/30 then.
Could be wrong, only kept it a couple years before I traded it off for my first 06.

I'd saved my money quite a while to buy that 30/30, 65 bucks comes to mind but my dad might of met me half way making it $130.00, just can't recall.
Sure as hell remember standing at that sells counter paying for it, Florida Wild Boar beware, this kid was gonna sling some lead!

I have a Parker-Hale .30-06 identified as J C Penney. Mauser action, no idea how old.

Worst shotgun I ever shot was a Ted Williams 12g that had an adjustable choke contraption on end of barrel that you could screw tighten or loosen like a collet. It weighted a freaking ton, yet kicked like a rented mule. It was my father’s, I traded that POS for $140 at a gun show, added $100 at another table and walked away with a Browning bl-22 lever action. Still have that rifle and consider that the best series of transactions I have ever done at a gun show

They were ahead of their time with mail order. Had it been today, they could've been the substitute for Amazon. Receiptless returns is some of what killed them in the 90s offer by Wal-Mart and later Target. They were on life support in the 90s. I always remember looking through their catalogs as a kid and seeing Winchester 70 XTRs advertised as well as the Marlin Camp 9.

I was 14 years old in 1966 and dad was lamenting his unsuccessful attempts at acquiring a Winchesters Centennial 1866-1966 rifle or carbine limited run and what may have been their first of a series of Commemorative Models of the venerable Model 94. The Centennial was built on the '94 frame and had a couple of features that brought back memories of the older days of the company most notably an octagon barrel. The receiver and furniture were gold plated to be reminiscent of Mr. Henry's brass designed contribution to the Winchester Company's fame in the early years. Dad had tried the area gun shops and was always told the factory was sold out and these mementos of Winchesters 100 years of operation were no longer available.

It was getting late in the year and I was paging through the Montgomery Ward Mail Order Catalog's outdoor sporting section and there it was, a two page spread advertising Winchester's Centennials for sale. I interrupted mom as she was consoling dad in his failed quest. Dad didn't collect guns, his arsenal was a 12 gauge Winchester Model 1912 with a Herter's Ventilated Rib installed on the barrel by a friend that worked in nearby Waseca, MN., this Model 1912 frequented duck hunting blinds and cornfields here on the Southern Minnesota Prairie hunting Ring-necked Pheasants that seemed plentiful during those drought years of the 1960s. An old Remington Model 14 pump deer rifle in .32 Remington that headed Up-North every fall, a Mossberg .22 semi-automatic that loaded through a port on the right side of the walnut buttstock that took rabbits and squirrels and a Colt 1903 Pocket Model in .32 acp that he kept in a drawer at his place of business. I found myself uncharacteristically interrupting their conversation when my teenage mind realized this two page advertisement was the very firearm they were talking about. "Dad, why don't you buy one from the Montgomery Ward Catalog?" That question and my interruption did not bring the chaos that I feared might happen, rather, it brought questions as to what I was talking about, I got up off the floor and took the catalog over to dad sitting in his favorite chair. It was Sunday night and we had been watching Bonanza. Surely Montgomery Ward's was sold out too! A very valuable lesson was learned that day, mom spoke up and said, "I will call them tomorrow morning and see if they still have any left?" They did, but, only the long barreled rifle. The buying pubic had scooped up all the Carbine Models the folks at Montgomery Ward had gotten in stock. The next day by the time dad had the Cities Service gas station he ran closed and was home for supper mom also had the order form filled out and a check written, the envelope's return address area filled in and a 5¢ stamp placed on the upper right hand corner. After supper she gave dad the envelope with order and check inside to review and make sure she had written in what he wanted to buy. He looked it over, put the order and check inside, sealed the envelope and my little brother and I got in the tu-tone 1958 Ford two door station wagon and we all went to the Post Office where dad got out, walked over and put the order in the slot of the outside drop box. Three weeks later mom called #52 and told dad that a somewhat long box arrived and that he might know what is inside it. Needless to say, when the gas station was closed for the day he didn't stop off for a beer at his usual watering hole before supper and we all sat around watching the package get opened. There was a special box and a heavy cardboard display inside with the Centennial. The Centennial was something to be admired to dad and he never fired it, although, there was always a full box of Super-X brand with the big red X .30-30 ammo in a nearby dresser drawer if a need arose. Seeing how much dad liked that rifle the Christmas of 1966 still to this day is one of my favorite childhood memories!

As for that lesson: You do not know someone else's mind or his inventory until after you ask your question, and only then if the person is honest!

A Marlin lever at Service Merchandize
A Remington870 at Woolworths
Two 870 Expresses at KMart.

45 years ago, I was 15 and wanted either a Remington 870 or Ithaca pump.

My buddy and I went to the movies (one mother would drop us off - the other would pick us up). We walked out of the theatre and there was Daddy. He took us downtown to Sears to look for me a shotgun (Christmas present). Ended up buying a 12 guage AyA SS, and I got his 1100 in trade. Still have that shotgun (now my son's).

When I first moved to Norman, Oklahoma in 1975, you could by firearms from the Target store that was there. I bought a brand new Marlin 336 with a straight stock that was checkered for 99 bucks.

I can’t remember a hardware store in Minnesota that didn’t sell some sort of guns back in the 60’s and 70’s. Many farm coops as well.
Every catalog delivered to the house had them as well.

Osky

A bunch were bought, sold, and traded in the parking lot at the high school as well.

60 plus years ago we looked at Firearms in several stores and Pawn Shops in CB Ia.

Back in those days if you went somewhere in Minnesota and needed ammunition even many gas stations had a supply and you could always find .30-30, .30-06, .30-40 Krag, .270 Winchester, .32 Special, and 35 Remington. Now we scavenge for what ever we can get!

In the late 70s. a lumber yard I used had basic ammo.

We have a family owned True Value store not far from us who has been in business since 1912. They sold Harley Davidson's, Oliver farm tractors & equipment, Ski Doo snowmobiles, which are all in the past, but they do have a really nice sporting goods department. The new stuff is behind the counter but they have a large two sided used gun rack on the floor where you can handle everything & no trigger locks. If you see something you like they'll negotiate a price, if you're satisfied, do the paperwork, you take your gun up to the front register with the negotiated price on the slip, pay, & carry your gun out the door. An honest family business who works off of the honor system. They'll even put you on a payment plan if needed, but the gun stays until paid in full & there's usually a bunch in the back layaway room.

I've read, Federal ammunition was sold in barber shops.