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Mail-order companies developed in the 1890s as a way for rural residents to purchase urban goods without traveling great distances to shop in city retail stores. Modern businesses continue this tradition by offering colorful catalogs displaying goods to customers preferring to shop from home. The most successful, and long-lived, mail-order companies started with a simple concept or one or two quality products to market to home shoppers.
Clothing Companies
Talbots, a mail-order company and collection of retail stores, opened a single store after World War II and first sent feature catalogs in 1952. Talbot's main shopping focus features affordable and classic clothing. The company developed into a $1.5 billion empire by 2008 and sent out more than 55 million catalogs that year. J. Crew, a relatively newcomer to catalog sales, sent out their first mail-order brochures in 1983 and in 2011 offers affordable, casual clothing, as well as business clothing suitable for America's First Lady to wear at official state functions. Both clothing companies continue mail-order operations in 2011, in addition to sales options using the Internet.
![Mail Order Big Mail Wanted Ad In Circulars Mail Order Big Mail Wanted Ad In Circulars](http://sendingspecialflyers.com/images/image49.jpg)
Sports Equipment and Outdoor Clothing
Contemporary mail-order catalog companies offering sports clothing, sporting equipment and outdoor products include L.L. Bean and Orvis. Leon Leonwood Bean started his mail-order business in 1911 with a quality hunting boot and more than 100 years later continues to offer various sports equipment, household furnishings, clothing and furniture, in addition to the classic hunting boots, via the mail and parcel post services. Charles F. Orvis enjoyed fishing and sold fishing tackle and rods in his first catalog sent to prospective buyers before the American Civil War. The company in 2011 continues to sell fishing equipment, as well as household furnishings, sporting equipment, furniture, dog bedding, clothing for outdoor sports and luggage.
General Merchandisers
General merchandiser Sears began operations in 1894 with Richard Sears' 'Book of Bargains' that featured sporting goods, firearms, sewing machines, jewelry, clothing and bicycles. Later catalogs, called the 'Wish Book' and the 'Big Book,' expanded the company's mail-order offerings. Sears today continues catalog sales, as well as online merchandising. Other general merchandisers offering mail-order service in 2011 include J.C. Penney Company, Inc., started by James Cash Penney in 1902, and Lillian Vernon, a mail-order firm that opened in 1951. Both companies offer a full range of merchandise, including clothing, housewares and gift items. The general merchandisers feature a variety of goods and products not readily available at local shopping venues.
Seed and Garden Companies
Burpee, founded in 1876 in Philadelphia by W. Atlee Burpee, mailed more than a million mail-order catalogs in 1915. The company in 2011, operated under the directorship of George Ball, Jr., continues to sell seeds through catalog sales but also offers an online retail option. Jackson and Perkins, established in 1872 by Charles and A.E. Jackson, started operations selling strawberry and grape plants. The firm added roses and a mail-order catalog branch in 1939 after merchandising success at the World's Fair in New York City. The firm reported sales in 2010 of more than 2 million roses and various other plants sold through mail-order operations. Popular garden and seed catalog companies also offer items not normally available at retail outlets.
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About the Author
Lee Grayson has worked as a freelance writer since 2000. Her articles have appeared in publications for Oxford and Harvard University presses and research publishers, including Facts On File and ABC-CLIO. Grayson holds certificates from the University of California campuses at Irvine and San Diego.
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Grayson, Lee. 'List of U.S. Mail-Order Companies.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/list-us-mailorder-companies-13448.html. Accessed 14 June 2019.
Grayson, Lee. (n.d.). List of U.S. Mail-Order Companies. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/list-us-mailorder-companies-13448.html
Grayson, Lee. 'List of U.S. Mail-Order Companies' accessed June 14, 2019. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/list-us-mailorder-companies-13448.html
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