[GreenKeys] blah, blah, blah blah

[jhhaynes at earthlink.net]

At the risk of getting far off topic from greenkeys, but...

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005, Don Robert House wrote:

> Speaking of dropping away...  I wonder why Mr. Roebuck is no longer mentioned 
> with Sears.  I find it interesting that the Sears stores, now owned by K-Mart 
> (ex-Kresge), have brass plaques on the walls as you enter the store that 
> still reads "Sears, Roebuck & Co."

There is a great book, "Chicago, City of the Century" that tells about
Messrs. Sears and Roebuck, as well as Montgomery Ward, Marshall Field,
etc.  The one glaring omission from our standpoint is any mention of
the Mortons, who provided the venture capital that started Teletype.
Now, that's putting it back on-topic.
>
> Perhaps as our economy collapses we will see a resurgence of small businesses 
> such as F.W. Woolworth, Ben Franklin Stores, and Western Auto... but somehow 
> I doubt it.

I remember reading the obituaries of Woolworth, Sprouse-Reitz, S. H. 
Kress, Kresge, Cornet, etc. - writers saying the five-and-dime stores
are finished.  But here in the rural South their place has been taken
by the likes of Fred's, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Bill's Dollar,
and others that are basically a re-invention of the five-and-dime.
Woolworth lives on, I have read, as Champs Sports, or one of those stores.
I thought Ben Franklin was still in business, but has changed to a craft
supplies type of store.

I was thinking the other day, looking at a picture of the New York
skyline with the Chrysler Building, that great Art Deco monument,
prominently featured.  New York had skyscrapers for Woolworth, Chrysler,
AT&T and other companies that are has-beens or nearly so.  And Sears
sold Sears Tower long ago.  I wonder how well John Hancock is doing.
I see where IBM is about to vacate the IBM building in downtown Chicago.
Meanwhile Wal-Mart so far lacks the edifice complex and operates out
of a rather small squat headquarters in Bentonville, AR.