Rich and sprawling Sears, Roebuck & Co. was embarking on its most ambitious foreign venture. The No. 1 U.S. mail order-chain casually let the news leak out that it had bought a $516,000 site in Mexico City and was planning to build a store on it.
The news struck among Mexico's retail and mail-order merchants like a hawk among chickens. They have no marketing and merchandising methods to approach the slick, fast moving Sears operation.
The select class of Mexican luxury customers, which can afford the customary creaky service and stiff markets, seemed only faintly interested in Sears' coming. And the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
