VWR International: Synergy in Action

Plumbers, farmers, building contractors, carpenters—all could get the needed tools of their trade from Sears or Ward’s. These behemoths in print were treasured by consumers and businesspeople as gateways to a better life. Indeed, in rural settings they were windows on the modern world.

Today the idea of a permanent catalog—something that is kept, referred to and discarded only after the new edition arrives—has gone the way of the buggy whip and pinch-waist corset.