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It's easier than rewinding a VHS before returning it. You earned it were here to make sure you get QuickBooks backing you abstract things based on QuickBooks oven projector 2070 customers that have business classes. No taxes will and this is Sunday morning with just nine days to go until Christmas holiday shopping is at its peak. Yet in the midst of all the friends, a former giant of American retailing is languishing. So what's in store for what was once one of our most popular places to shop David Pogue will report a cover story dear Mr. Sears and Roebuck since 1893, Sears has been part of American life.

There was the Sears catalog Sears stores the Sears Tower. But now the company is bankrupt and struggling to live through the holidays.

Just the message to all businesses in America really have to change the 125 year rise and fall of an American icon ahead this Sunday morning.

By contrast, the stores notice pop-ups are both surviving and thriving with Luke Burbank will pop and a few blank and you might miss temporary events that combine our commerce and culture. We just want to come in the city of Culver City, the magical world of pop up later on Sunday morning status of Barry takes us to the land of Legos. Steve Hartman salutes the secret Santa and more coming up when our Sunday morning podcast continues exactly 4 years ago in homes.

Maybe yours entire families were eagerly looking through this holiday catalog from Sears. So what happened and what's in store for the store that used to set the pace for American retailing cover story as reported by David Pogue and Mr. C. And Roebuck sitting here at its peak, Sears, Roebuck was the biggest retailer in the world. Its headquarters was the tallest building in the long. It was the biggest employer in America and was even America's biggest publisher thanks to its famous cattle, but then Sears has officially filed for bankruptcy company have struggled for years after it dominated the department store business for much of the 20th century.

Today, many of the Sears stores you grew up with look like this.

Did you ever know this is a Sears were your here is the shop this Sears at the Paramus Park Mall, New Jersey is about to become a student Leonard grocery store stew Leonard Junior is the CEO always looked at Sears as does your great retail notice see us taking overseers will sit there and say boy we have to keep changing to his retail Sears was founded 125 years ago by a railroad man named Richard Sears with his partners, Alva Roebuck and later Julius Rosenwald figured out that America's new railroads and the postal services package delivery would let them deliver products to small towns all over the country. Sears sold everything you'd ever need from cradle to grave everything for the house including the whole house or elsewhere. So log that took the lead artifacts and only wealthy people have made them accessible to people who were rising up through this new thing called the middle class Don Katz is the author of the big store and inside look at Sears, written in 1986.

He says Sears didn't invent the future only wants in 1925 the company's then VP Robert Wood launched Sears a second act opening physical stores.

He decided that the automobile was the key.

What was going to happen to commerce in America began to buy the crossroads outside of cities and towns all over the country. Those crossroads eventually became the suburbs and when Americans moved in.

Sears was waiting you make it sound like Sears was this incredibly innovative company at the beginning completely in the event of their work. They were inventing consistent with what job in its heyday.

Sears offer job benefits like profit-sharing and generous pensions.

No wonder so many employees stay with the company for decades. The sand table came from Sears and the two wing backs came from Sears, Bobby Jones worked at Sears for 35 years were Claddagh and filled his house with its products. This is say and more dishwasher, microwave oven, this title chairs china cabinet came from Sears. The drapes came from Sears.

From my very first memory as a child.

The Sears catalog was there and house the majority of the close shoes was awarded from Sears. My mother even ordered her fruitcake. Each Christmas from Sears but over the years innovations slowed and things began to change.

Sears became increasingly inwardly focused as many businesses that become very successful and very large due to their peril.

Mark Cohen was once the CEO of Sears Canada.

Today he teaches retail studies at Columbia University. He says that Sears could have survived the competition from Walmart, Home Depot, and even Amazon. What ultimately doomed Sears.

He says, was bad leaders, especially billionaire investor Edward Lambert who bought Sears in 2004 and merged it with Kmart today Kmart went shopping and came home with Sears Lampert has sold off Sears brands in real estate and closed hundreds of stores of the 2300 Sears locations eight years ago, only about five remain open today Lambert has publicly defended his efforts to turn the company around and in an email to Sears employees. He blamed the bankruptcy in part on today's quote difficult retail environment. After declining our repeated requests to interview Lambert Sears yesterday provided a statement reads in part, protecting the interests of Sears Associates and all stakeholders has and will continue to be a priority for the management.

Is it possible that Sears was already behind the times doomed to go out of business. When Lambert came along and that he really wasn't the tipping point. Well I believe in 2005 when Lambert took over the company could have been resurrected. Amazon still was in a very nascent physician Sears still had a tremendous reputation, especially in brands like Kenmore Craftsman diehard so there is no reason to believe the company had to quote unquote fail, many retirees Sears reunion in Atlanta can understand why Sears couldn't turn it successful catalog business into a successful Internet store merchandise without Sears had control that well. Good point. After predicting the impact of the railroad and the highway system would Sears miss the rise of the Internet. Well, it didn't connect prodigy to your computer and get stuck, remember the early online service called prodigy. It was a joint venture between Sears, IBM and CBS sports scores on TV shop at home 11 years before Jeff Pazo's founded Amazon.com.

It was just a little ahead of its time. What happens when you lose your way is you don't even know what you have anymore 20 years after writing his book about Sears, Don Katz left journalism to found the audiobook company audible which in 2008 was bought by Amazon.

He says all companies, even his own can learn from what happened to Sears and needed to reinvent themselves really disruptive way. It just didn't happen. The remaining Sears stores are still open for the holidays and just last week Edward Lambert's hedge fund offered to buy the company out of bankruptcy for $4.6 billion saying they believe in Sears is quote potential to evolve retail.

Prof. Mark Cohen isn't optimistic. The company has zero chance of success.

I to say that because the still quite a few people in the US at least look look to Sears for their employment, but there's no chance for the future.

There might walking at the farmers market and at the bakery right over there. You ran at that stew Leonard's grocery store in New Jersey. The only bit of Sears that will remain is a lesson just a message to all businesses in America. You have to change. This is a good reminder for us. We have to change every day.

So what is the future of retailing Burbank thinks he may now 'tis the season to be shopping while everyone is promoting the death malls and other brick-and-mortar retail pop-ups have been sorry hopping up all over the place. These temporary events.

Think of them as the hermit crabs of unused retail space. Serve all kinds of purpose selling products to selling things in a more subtle way like this recent pop-up that brought back New York's Carnegie deli actually closed in 2006.

All interest of promoting an Amazon prime TV show because they're fun and immersive and oh so Instagram mobile but somebody still has to pay for them.

Pop-ups often straddle the line art commerce. Nobody straddles that line quite like T9 room anywhere 29 life and experience everything the creation of the peerage alerting created whose digital media company refinery 29 covers culture from the perspective of young women 29 rooms which popped up in LA for just four days a week ago featured various rooms curated by artist and celebrities like Nicole Richie and Kesha and social justice organizations like the ACLU and major brands like Pantene Smirnov and morning-after pill plan which paid for these phone booths where visitors could hear prerecorded stories of emergency contraception. I for these brands paying to be here at least temporarily, is a good way to reach potential customers in real life, which is difficult to do in this era of online shopping.

We want to really connect and allow them to access our brand pop-ups have become his about billion dollars 26 so pop Euler.

Sorry again that in fact the average length of commercial retail leases shrunk from 20 years to just five years. Just ask John Goodman. We just want to come in the city conquer city make them way more readily come back or not Goodman used to be the CEO of mall retailers like Mervyns in wet seal, but these days he thinks the future of retail is in pop-ups like the one he runs candy Topia traveling fun house dedicated to all things sweet. I was a retail a whole life so I know them all. I know the area. No experiential retail felt like we could be part of the state. Goodman's business partner is Jackie Sorkin celebrity candy artist and yes there is such a thing. It's just hundreds of thousands of pieces of candy thousands of hours of work took us on a tour of candy Topia San Francisco is a test of Willy Wonka is a latchkey kid so you spent a lot of time watching the movie over and over and over again, the principles of the movie really spoke to me and for a limited time, visitors can experience those principles themselves all for the low low price of $34 a ticket, there's the celebrity portrait Gallery candy next door to the room where candy confetti shoots out of wealth to see for yourself. And of course, don't forget the gift shop but the main attraction might be a giant of big marshmallows a moment.

Perfect, sharing on social media which is kind of the point is Sorkin got all these incredible structures are you want to take photos with candy sculptures really just Instagram's dream really dreams that can also come true at San Francisco's Museum of ice cream which, technically speaking, is not really Museum but was so popular as a pop up.

It's now permanent and just the place to take that perfect picture with that special someone yourself pop up.

It's your ability to get people there quickly because it saying he limited call to action get here now while supplies last year that this beautiful roommate of flowers or is crazy roommate of tape may not be forever succumb to your photo get a medical angle on it and then you know go about your day. Tommy Hunton is one of the founders of the Museum of selfies.

We are standing in our famous bathroom there's a bit of an optical illusion affect located where else in Hollywood and yes it also started as a pop-up when you walk into a real space here there is very special because their chemicals in our brains that we are in a space watching TV. You can still get a reaction for character old on their Tommy.

Let's not get carried away, but he does have a point there is no substitute for actually being there not online. Not on your phone actually being there with someone you love is everywhere now page from our 70 morning almanac December 16, 1884, 134 years ago today.

The day William Henry for one of Minneapolis patented his manic liquid drawing device designed for some reason to look like a building ruins device dispensed mineral water upon the deposit of a coin, making it America's first patented vending machine. The first, but hardly the last decades of course vending machines in ever increasing complexity and variety become a familiar sight across our land so familiar that a vending machine even figured into Stanley Kubrick's 1964, nuclear war, Dr. Strangelove made a small change to make a payphone called Pres. Peter Sellers implores Keenan when to open fire as you Coca-Cola Company transactions go far more smoothly than that vending machines dispense all sorts of tax particularly in Japan where the variety of foods and drinks and goods on offer is left with all due respect to that first machine these days.

It's a lot more than mineral water. Popular toys ever is about to get an earth friendly makeover. Roxana Sadberry takes us to the land when the magic is made from the size of the bill in Denmark which famous toy company this town and inside this life-size Lego building Lego just about anything imaginable imagined in the tiny plastic bricks inspiring tiny mind for decades because the seven-year-old Max knows only do so much iPad hands-on approach is the brick was born in the 1950, interlocking bricks.

No wonder it was dubbed the toy of the 20th century for its universal appeal. Lego has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the 1930s when Danish carpenter only Kirk Christiansen started making wooden toys in his bill and workshop. This was made out of what only made out of work.

They were called Lego from the Danish phrase lie.which means play well. Corbin Scott dining Lego set more than 30 years does the toy live up to the name. I think it does. Did at that time students. These two parcels. The mobile go to show us the machine that made Lego's first plastic toys hot plastic would go into the moat so the prototypes for the bricks change everything company has since produced trillions of now famous plastic bricks changed so little piece made today. It's with one from the 1950 the question now is Michael making the very product clicked with problem plastic to find that alternative president for environmental responsibility. Set at 2030 deadline to eliminate based to shrink carbon equipment Zorn Christiansen and his team at Michael's labs have been testing hundreds of based on recycled materials in search of a suitable substitute. What this wonderful new which is can tell you think this is just testing this one house. Sturdy enough for your new bricks and a lot of other things we would have to solve says the new bricks will have to look and feel like the current one, no easy task. When you look at these – I need.

If they fit together. This supersafe to have a sound. The role the same color.

So these are all properties that are quite hard to replicate in the new material. These are from a recycled material and they just don't fit together as a whole. Approximation is that we need to make it tighter safe to say that the material you need to re-create these bricks in a more environmentally friendly way just does not exist is a tough one for short sustainable materials that exist out, but the challenge is that quality safety Tim Brooks says Michael has found one replacement so far.

Some of its coming off fresh off the production line is all it's plastic made from sugarcane. The new material works in less than 2% of Legos products and critics say these plastics can weigh heavily on the environment, concern that using sugarcane to create plastic is also very resource intensive and requires a lot of water in my deforestation sugarcane put additional checks in place to make sure it's growing in the right way. It's a lower environmental footprint done making bricks from oil show doesn't come without challenges and I think we shouldn't always see that bio-based materials are silver bullets to step on the journey was taking other steps to running windfarms to offset energy use edit sites in factories for 100% renewable or recyclable packaging. This way Lego hopes well well we say we want to inspire and build means making a planet for them in the future and we can't say we made a product a great toy for them, but somehow that damage that pilot when they get old. To the contrary, Santa is real and very much alive.

Our Steve Hartman found him handing out the gift of goodness on the street next to him how you doing today ready for Christmas.

A lot of people ignore the homeless folks rushing past Moses may regret their paste because this week all people had to do was pay him some attention and he would pay the Benjamin's $100 match shock this is all about.

Moses was financed by secrets the same anonymous businessman from the country and got hundred dollar bills through random strangers this holiday season. In addition to his normal giving. He came here to Phoenix morning morning and recruited this most unlikely homeless asked you to help me.

So here's what you gave Moses about $3000 with the instruction to give it away to every soft. I think this will be a joyful experience for it's a myth that the homeless just take my experience of people with least give the most of what they have.

We saw the two women, Danny McCoy put change in the top even though he has seven kids and until this moment than 100 of the user can heart had no idea how he was going to buy Christmas presents internally for what was that's the kind of relief. Moses brought so most to those he blessed were strangers who just happen by missing but not all. We gave this guy from church $400 you gave this homeless mother of five, $500. And remember, people appreciate you what you can give appointed to take care your kids wouldn't okay. Of course, in the secret Santa also gave Moses some money to keep for himself. This here is a new beginning.

But he says that reward pails to the joy he received from helping others.

Today we changed a lot of people left. But I believe my life was changed. The most he says even when you're homeless feel so much better to give than receive don't know. I'm happy you kindness is a bridge between all people. So if you're ever down anyone lift yourself up, go to something kind for somebody that it make you feel like Weibel but 100 bucks is okay. Scrooge may not be around to say Baja humbug to Christmas, Jim Gaffigan may be the next best thing. Christmas is okay back got your attention, but something my mom would say to me in my five siblings when we are misbehaving as children, which was all the time but I guess in December were bad enough to cancel Jesus's birthday, Christmas is canceled. It was a hyperbolic statement from an exhausted loving mother of six. As a kid I knew it was only a threat but it was a horrifying thought to think of not getting a Christmas present. I remember wondering if it's the holidays. Why her mom and dad so stressed out now that I'm an adult I understand it all too well the holidays are stressful, but let's not just blame it on the holidays were crazy families.

It's a combination of a lot of things you barely recover from Thanksgiving and then Christmas and see the holidays also usually coincide with the end of the calendar year which adds additional weird obligations and resolutions adding the unfortunate fact that the holidays are in cold, icy December December. That's not ideal. Without Christmas and New Year's Eve December would just be another January and not proposing we cancel Christmas although at times like a decent idea.

How about this we move Christmas writer her right. I can already hear some of you typing your outrage on Twitter and Facebook, but please know I'm joking kind of consider this Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

There are many theories on what Jesus was actually born that implies there's some flexibility about spring December in the Middle East is very nice but for us would be nicer to travel to grandmother's house and say may have about summer. If we move Christmas to July. We could do a combo birthday celebration. Merry Christmas and happy for the July makes sense. We all know Jesus was from America. Okay, maybe I went too far and if you have a problem with this and want to complain to CBS. Just remember, my name is Mo Rocca, West Virginia. There is a Santa Claus for the expression is Virginia letters to Santa, it's this one stands out. You probably know, printed in the New York Sun in 1897 years old son, Virginia 15 W. 950 yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus was the famous response from editor Francis P. Church exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist 120 years later the yes Virginia column is the most reprinted newspaper editorial in history, inspiring books, music, even animated Macy's TV special.

While the words have traveled far as the letter Virginia O'Hanlon's handwritten note has never left her family so written in cursive James Temple as her grandson. Her letter as I think about brings back my childhood and brought Rogers as her great-grandson keeps it in a scrapbook as a parent of two young kids I want them to maintain their innocence.

For as long as possible and the yes Virginia story. The letter the response that she got as a way to do that for them. Yes, that is Hanlon who loved sharing her story led a life of achievement ahead of her times modern woman. She earned a Masters degree and doctorate in education and for decades was a New York City school teacher and principal to be single-parent to end up with a PhD very remarkable. She died at age 81 in 1971. As for her childhood house in Manhattan is now home to the studio school where her legacy is celebrated for all to see and hear tell me the truth. The class yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus. Most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see, Janet Rocker is head of the school. What makes it so special is the idea of curiosity. The idea of questioning which is really at the heart of education of humanity, of who we are. Dear editor years old some rock. Roger says the letter is worth tens of thousands of dollars but it's not for sale notice stating the family is no price tag time of viral videos and instant messages, a little girl squarely for many Christmases past has a permanent place now really is a story of hope and it's a story of bringing people together something for everybody. Christmas, I'm Jane Pauley.

Thank you for listening and please join us again next Sunday morning. This is intelligence matters with former acting Dir. of the CIA.

Michael Morel bridge Colby is cofounder and principal of the Marathon initiative project focused on developing strategies to prepare the United States for an era of sustained great power competition states put her mind to something, we can usually figure it out what people are saying and what we can know analytically and empirically as our strategic situation or motor situations not being matched up with follow.

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