“More than 200 Sears, Roebuck and Co. Employees and guests will participate in the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Sears retail complex in Saginaw Township at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday.”
It will signal the ‘beginning’ of construction for what will eventually be a $20-million retail store complex on a more than-70-acre site in the Bay, Schust and Barnard Roads area.
--The Saginaw News, September 15, 1968.
Yesterday in our artifact post, we focused on the conversion of the former Federal Avenue Bank of Saginaw building into a store for Sears Roebuck & Company. While the facility had been hailed as a state-of-the-art showplace in 1940, by the 1960s it was starting to seem a little out of date – and unairconditioned. And in a Saginaw fixated on manufacturing automobiles - and creating a place to park them, the store’s lack of a huge parking lot was deemed a fatal flaw.
Sears Roebuck & Company, once a nationally important retailer, opened its first store in Saginaw in 1928. Located on the northeast corner of East Genesee and South Water, the retailer soon outgrew the site, and in 1940, they made the move to Federal Avenue. (See yesterday’s artifact.) On July 19, 1972, they dedicated a new store on Tittabawassee and Bay; the company was a retail giant. This link will take you to the history of Sears Roebuck & Company.
Sears was a leader – a driving force – in the development of what would become Fashion Square Mall. In fact, many early articles simply refer to it as the Sears Mall. It was a move that would be consequential for the company and would profoundly change Saginaw – far more than the reach of one store.
Opening of Sears Fashion Square Mall.
The Sears Automotive center opened a few weeks before the grand opening of the main store. The paper reported:
“The transition of a Saginaw township field from agricultural to commercial use was completed Wednesday when Sears Roebuck & Co. opened its automotive center in Fashion Square Mall.
It is the first of some 85 proposed shops and stores to be located in the shopping center at Bay and Tittabawassee Road.” (The Saginaw News, June 22, 1972.)
Appropriately, for a community with a thriving auto industry, Sears’ Fashion Square Mall store was dedicated with an innovative replacement for a ribbon cutting. Community leaders joined Sears Roebuck and Company management in opening the doors by means of a power steering-assisted steering wheel. Although we have no idea about the mechanics of this door-opening system, we are almost certain that it was a Saginaw Steering Gear-produced component. We do know that those turning the opening wheel included Audra Francis, then chair of the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners, and from the smiles on the faces of those holding the wheel, they had great fun.
If you read yesterday’s post about the transformation of the vacant Bank of Saginaw Building into a Sears Roebuck Store in 1940, you may find irony in the firm’s renovation of the failed bank’s building and the now-vacant Sears Store at Bay and Tittabawassee Roads.
However, we are optimistic, and we have a field trip to take - back to the 1970s.
The Recipe: Theresa O’Deay’s Dill Dip
This week’s recipe is from an undated cookbook assembled by Employees of the Saginaw Sears store. Although undated, it is almost certainly a product of the 1970s.
1 1/3 cup Hellman's Mayonnaise
1 1/3 cup sour cream
1 T minced dried onion
2 t. parsley flakes
2 t. seasoned salt
2 t. dill weed
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
4 drops Tabasco sauce
1 t. Accent
Mix all ingredients well. Chill overnight. Serve with vegetables.
CTK Notes:
The CTK staff was tempted to, but did not succumb, update this recipe by substituting fresh ingredients. However, we made a trek to the dried herb display and realized that there is a certain charm and convenience to be found in '70s recipes.
The recipe was quick, tasty, and brought back fond memories. The next time we make it, we may omit the seasoned salt and\or Accent.
The recipe was so quick, we had plenty of time left to rake our shag carpeting. Where did we put our shag carpeting rake? Did we ever have shag carpeting? We are quite certain that Sears did sell shag carpeting.