Several weeks ago, I took my camera downtown in El Paso. I love to take picture there because there is so much personality and history scattered throughout the area. As I walked down the hill from where I was parked, I spotted the old Sears Roebuck and Company store. There is a block advertising, that originally caught my eye, but there is also the worn letters from the marque along the roof. Around the building there is construction is taking place, which may have recently exposed the advertising—or, quite possibly, I had never noticed it before. However, with the construction taking place, I fear, that advertising will be gone within months.
Through some print ads from the 1950’s through the 1960s, Sears Roebuck and Company used the slogan “Shop at Sears and Save”, so I imagine that the painted ad is from those years. It appears that there is even more writing underneath the Sears black paint, but that is undetermined. It was during that time frame that Sears was expanding into Mexico City (1947) and the globally soon after. These years were a time of great expansion for the Sears Roebuck and Company.
It truly makes me stop and reflect how much has changed since those days of painting on the walls for advertisements. Not that it doesn’t still work, but so much has changed. Old left behind advertisements also take me back to a time when the downtown was the center on the city’s activity. I still believe that this practice should return—it would be nice to see the downtown areas return to life and vibrancy in every city.