On Feb 17, 10:37�pm, "Stefan Wolfe" wrote:
If you were in the market for a watch in1880, would you know where to get
one? * You would go to a store, right? *Well, of course you could do that;
but if you wanted one that was cheaper and better than most of the store
watches, you went to the train station! * Sound a bit funny? *Well, for
about 500 towns across the northern United States, that's where the best
watches were found. *At the train station. *But not for the reason you might
think. * The railroad company wasn't selling the watches, not at all. *The
telegraph operator was. * And most of the time, the telegraph operator was
located in the railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the
railroad tracks from town to town. *It was usually the shortest distance and
the right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line. * Also, most
of the station agents were skilled telegraph operators, and that was the
primary way that they communicated with the railroad. * They would know when
trains left the previous station and when they were due at their station.
And it was the telegraph operator who had the watches. *As a matter of fact,
they sold more of them than almost all of the stores combined for a period
of about 9 years. * And mostly, this was arranged by Richard, who was a
telegraph operator himself. *He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota,
train station one day, when a load of watches arrived from the east. * *A
huge crate of pocket watches. *No one ever came to claim them. * So Richard
sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what they wanted to do
with the watches. *The manufacturer didn't want to pay the freight back, so
they wired Richard to see if he could sell them. *Richard did that. *He sent
a wire to every agent in the system, asking them if they wanted a cheap, but
good pocket watch. *He sold the entire case in less than two days and at a
handsome profit. *That started it. * He ordered more watches from the watch
company and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in
the station and start offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all
the travelers. *That worked! *It didn't take long for the word to spread to
all kinds of people; and before long, people other than travelers came to
the train station to buy watches. * Richard got so busy he had to hire a
professional watchmaker to help him with the orders. *He did, and that
person was Alvah. *And the rest is history, as they say. * The business took
off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods. * Richard and Alvah
left the train station and moved their company to Chicago. *And it's still
there. *IT'S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT that for a while in the1880's, the biggest
watch retailer in the country was at the train station. *It all started with
a telegraph operator, Richard Sears, and his partner: Alvah Robuck!

Interesting read. Thanks.

Dloyd Lavies, Sweat Lord and Talk Show Buffoon
"In the Domestic Rear"

http://www.markmorgansucks.blogspot.com