[bryanlarsen]

"Mail order catalogs never offered the opportunity to transcend the experience at a store."

Mail-order catalogs historically played a very important part in the life of rural Americans. You could even buy a house via mail order.

Even when it became possible to travel to a store easily, mail order catalogs still offered one thing that stores didn't: time.

You could spend hours, even days poring over your catalog, analyzing and obsessing. Every kid assembled his Christmas wish list from the Sears Christmas catalog, even urban kids.