Photos: Sears stores in Tucson since 1928
Sears, Roebuck & Co. opened its first store Tucson on April 28, 1928, at 81 N. 6th Ave.
The original store downtown closed shortly before the opening of a new 250,000-square-foot Sears-Broadway Shopping Center on September 1, 1965. Park Mall adjacent to the stand-alone Sears store was completed in 1974.
In 1982, Sears opened at Tucson Mall.
Sears Holdings closed the Park Place (Broadway Road) store in 2018. The Tucson Mall store closed in 2020.
The Sears store on 6th Avenue in downtown Tucson in June, 1965.
The Arizona Hotel, center, to the left of Sears, in 1965.
Sears Roebuck & Co in downtown Tucson, 1947.
Sears Roebuck and Co, downtown Tucson, 1940.
Clyde A. Mowrey, far left, manager of Sears in Tucson, poses with other employees and Jeane Milinchuck and Cori Cruz (who added "class," according to the original caption), during groundbreaking for a 60,000-square-foot Sears warehouse at 820 S. Euclid Ave. in 1957. The building is now occupied by Global Investment Recovery, which handles scrap and waste materials.
Hundreds of people gather at the site of a new Sear's store on Tucson's Eastside (now Park Place) in July, 1964,
Officials from Sears, Roebuck & Co. grab a three-handled spade during the official groundbreaking for a new Sear's store on Tucson's Eastside (now Park Place) in July, 1964.. From left, Clyde A. Mowrey, current store manager in Tucson; Wade Hampton, Phoenix, Arizona zone manager; Joseph Metcalf of Ventura, Calif., who became the manager of the new store.
Grand opening of the Sears department store before the build out of Park Mall on E. Broadway Road in Tucson on Sept. 1, 1965.
The new Sears store on the Eastside of Tucson, at Broadway and Wilmot (now Park Place) on Aug. 30, 1965, before the grand opening. The downtown Sears store on 6th Ave. closed permanently on Aug. 28 and merchandise was moved to the new store.
Tucson's second Sears store at 5950 E. Broadway, a day before opening on Sept. 1, 1965. The property is now Park Place.
Sears, Roebuck & Co. company officials at the grand opening of the new Sears store on the Eastside of Tucson, at Broadway and Wilmot, on Sept. 1, 1965.
Linda Barrow, Miss Teenage Tucson of 1965, and Sears store officials greet shoppers at the new Sears store on the Eastside of Tucson, now Park Place, during the grand opening on Sept. 1, 1965. Barrow graduated from Palo Verde High School and went on to the University of Arizona. She died in 2008.
Oh, the humanity. Shoppers mob the entrance of the new Tucson Sears department store on E. Broadway Road and S. Wilmot Road on Sept. 1, 1965. Note the forlorn mannequin at left.
The Soto family shops for the new school year at Sears at Park Mall in August, 1975
The Soto family shops for the new school year at Sears at Park Mall in August, 1975
The Soto family shops for the new school year at Sears at Park Mall in August, 1975
Leetz Shultz operates the "magic wand" attached to an "electronic" cash register at Sears on E. Broadway Road, Tucson, in August, 1977. The wands cost $1,000 each, according to the manufacturer, Recognition Products, Inc., of Dallas. The wand records price, stock number and inventory control information and transmits to a store server, which communicates with a regional server.
Leetz Shultz operates the "magic wand" at Sears on E. Broadway Road, Tucson, in August, 1977
Despite the many TV in the electronics area of the Sear's Park Mall store there were few people watching Clinton's Grand Jury testimony in September, 1998. Customer Kathy Kenny and sales Mike Kent talk over a service question.
Bob Vila, home remodeling guru poses in the Craftsman tools department at Sears, Park Mall, in 1998.
Sears and K-mart announced the closure of 120 stores across the country on December 27, 2011. The Park Place store in Tucson closed in 2018.
Rick Wiley
Photo editor
Could empty parking lots around Tucson's malls become housing?For Star subscribers: A large, empty parking lot at Park Place mall is being eyed for possible use as a multifamily development.
These photos were recently featured in the Star's Tucson Time Machine newsletter, which highlights Tucson's history through snapshots of peopl…