Thread: Mongomery Ward and Co catalogue

I'm probably one of the few forum members to have shopped in person at a Monkey-Wards store. I think it was in 1966. I was twelve. Back then you could still get almost anything in their huge hardware departments, and their catalogue was like a yellow pages volume. Same was true of Sears, whose "Craftsman" house brand took up about eighty pages in the catalogue. In the 30's you could even buy houses out of the catalogue.

We had our own great machinery houses here in Melbourne. I can recall visiting McPherson's in Collins Street towards Spencer St and seeing my first Hercus lathe.

Then to a much lesser extent, was McEwans in little Collins Street. These were fair dinkum joints, timber floors and overhead cables wizing money bozes to the cashiers office. A short wait, and back came the money box with your receipt and your change. A quick look would reveal your purchase. 1- Stanley hand drill at 2 pounds 3 shillings and 6 pence halfpenny.

What have we got today, Mitre10, your Chinese store.

Kennefff

Ken, I used to go with my Dad to M.G. Butler's in Windsor, Ontario. There you could buy over the counter any Stanley tool, or snow shovels, or pry bars for moving your railway cars around the joint. Anything for plumbing, steamfitting, boiler making, blacksmithing, panel beating, electrical, nautical or automotive. They had a warehouse 4 city blocks square. This to serve a town of 160,000 people. Counter was about eighty feet long, manned by 16 guys who knew approximately everything.

They had those little canisters that would get sucked upstairs by vacuum tubes. That was cool. Recently I saw the same system here at Costco in Melbourne.

GQ

On edit: My brother still has their 1968 catalogue. It is in two volumes, 8" thick!

I have an old 1966 McPherson's catalogue. Unbelievable with all the many hand drawn sketches of tools etc. It's a bit tattered repaired with masking tape, and falls open at the Hercus page. Funny that.

It's as if someone really cared, a different story today. "Give us your money and nick off".

Anyone got an earlier McPherson's catalogue than 1966?

Ken

There's a bunch of old catalogues on ebay right now.I think some go back into the 50's.

It's funny that I am still shopping in a time warp: stuff from the golden era on ebay rather than new mediocrity. (or worse). I go into a tool store now once every two years or so and wonder why I do. I have a 1965 Sydney Machine Tool Expo catalogue here that would make you weep for what we have lost.

(Admittedly...1965 was the heyday of manual machines. No one can make money with those now, but still...)

i wish i was i was able to see these good old tool shops

I was speaking with a 60 year old friend today, and we were marvelling at how fast the old days went away. Both of us recall vividly shopping in 100 yr old department stores where shop assistants were at every counter, polished wood floors; manners and elegance even in working class towns. Sometime in the 60's they and the tool shops and the corner garage* disappeared.

56 is too young to be missing days of yore.

*Except we have an old school petrol station nearby that pumps and fixes cars. Little things like light globes are a bit more, but installation is free! They get all my business. I'm still looking for the old-fashioned tool shop.