Question: What product did the Sears, Roebuck Co. sell when it began in the 1890s?
Answer: Watches. Railway station agent Richard Sears bought a shipment of watches to sell to other agents and soon opened his own watch company. After moving to Chicago, he brought watchmaker Alvah Roebuck into the business, and by 1893 they had officially become Sears, Roebuck and Company, selling watches — and then everything else — via mail order catalogue.
