see i'm going to push back on some of that. for many decades people would buy any and everything from s&r. dry goods, guns, clothes, books, stoves, wagons, even fucking houses believe it or not. literally everything. seriously go look up a copy of like the 1920 sears and roebuck catalogue- it's fascinating partly for the prices but also just how expansive it was you could buy anything.  alot of people especially in the country bought like all their shit from those catalogues. it is very reminiscent to how amazon functions today and yes there are definitely differences obviously- like you said the shipping times and ease of payment etc, but it really is a similar service when you consider their technological constraints back then.
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