Memories Of Garden Oaks

[NenaE]

On 8/8/2018 at 6:15 PM, houwest said:

The building south of the main store was originally the bicycle and small engine (lawn mower) sales and service. 

 

 

That makes sense to me... with the Sears - Oak Forest/ Garden Oaks store (1949) on N. Shepherd having a detached garden bldg. I know the Sears - Main St. store (1939) had a detached auto center. I think it was once a garden center, too. I probably saw it on an old Sanborn map. It sat SE, right across the street. The Sears - Pasadena store (1956) had an attached but outdoor fenced garden type area to the right, with the auto shop in the rear. The key shop was a separate small booth located in front of the store, on the south side, by the right entrance doors. I remember it vividly. The colored keys always caught my eye. The catalog dept. was to the left, back side. I don't recall what setup the Sears - Harrisburg store (1947) had...think it may have been detached and close by. The Sears - Memorial City (1961) has/ had a detached auto center. The original 60's, heavy-looking but easy- gliding silver handled doors were still present in recent years. They may have disappeared in the last  medical center/ shopping mall remodel. The Memorial City Sears key booth was like the Pasadena store. It sat on the West entrance, in its own little booth. 

 

The Sears built dates may be approximate. I've included them mainly to see how the garden/ auto center design evolved.  

[IronTiger]

It could've been the Garden Center, as Shepherd's Auto Center was to the north of the building. Memorial City's Garden Center was attached. There's some old video floating around YouTube that does have a good shot of it, and that part later became the optical department, which had closed some years before the store went out of business.

[plumber2]

The retail building across the street from St Pius High School on Shepherd at Donovan was a Globe Shopping City. I know for sure because looking at my old Marian High School yearbook from 1971, the building marquee shows up in the distance in a stadium photo shot of a football game between the two schools.