Did you know a side-hustle in the 1800s started the Sears empire?
In the 1880s, Americans who wanted a watch wouldn’t go to the mall. Instead, they went to the train station. Telegraph operators would ride from town to town, selling watches along the way. Train station watch sales began with a telegraph operator named Richard Sears. He worked at a station when a mysterious crate of pocket watches appeared. This random event spiralled, and eventually led to the creation of Sears department stores.
