29th Street Sears

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In 1958, Sears moved its Huntington store from downtown’s 4th Avenue to a
new location on 5th Avenue at 29th Street. The new store was big in size,
 modern in design and, of course, surrounded by acres of parking.

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HUNTINGTON — Sears, Roebuck & Co. has been much in the news of late. And the news
 hasn't been good. Plagued by sagging sales, the big retailer filed for bankruptcy
and is barely clinging to life. Its future is uncertain.

Sears began, of course, as a mail-order company in the 1890s and before long
 its thick catalogue was showing up in millions of the nation's mailboxes.

Next, the company took a giant step when it began opening downtown retail
stores in communities all across America. In downtown Huntington,
 Sears operated a retail store at 821-23 4th Ave.
 from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Beginning in the 1950s, Sears decided to leave crowded downtowns behind and
build new stand-alone stores, modern in design with lots of free parking.
 In 1958, Sears moved its Huntington store from 4th Avenue to
a new location on 5th Avenue at 29th Street.

Located on an 11-acre tract that once was home to the traveling tent circuses
that visited Huntington, the new store was big in size, modern in design
and, of course, surrounded by acres of parking. Besides seemingly
 endless aisles of merchandise, the building included a snack bar,
a garden shop, a huge warehouse and a service station built
 to accommodate eight vehicles at a time.

When the Huntington Mall opened in Barboursville in 1981, Sears opened
 a store there, closing its 29th Street store. Big Bear supermarket moved
 into the vacant 29th Street building. Then, when Big Bear went out
 of business, St. Mary's Medical Center bought the building
 and transformed it into its Education Center.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Feb. 25, 2019.

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