To an entire generation of young shoppers, Sears is the store they least want to visit in the mall they rarely patronize.

But for much of its 132-year history, the company was at the forefront of American retail. Its early mail-order and distribution innovations made it the Amazon of the Gilded Age.

Later, its vast spread of brick-and-mortar stores positioned it in prime retail locations across the country. For years, it was the largest retailer in the United States, operating out of the tallest building in the world. At various points, it sold products like fishing tackle, tombstones, barber chairs, wigs and even a “Stradivarius model violin ” for $6.10.

In the last decade, however, little of that splendor has been evident. The company has lost money for years, its head count has fallen by hundreds of thousands of employees, and it has several thousand fewer stores than it did in 2008. Even the landmark Sears Tower in Chicago — which it no longer owns — was renamed, after an insurance company.