Meanwhile, throughout the 1950s, the company was slow to respond to the general movement of the American middle class to suburbia. While its competitors Sears, JCPenney, Macy's, Gimbels, and Dillard's established new anchor outlets in the growing number of suburban shopping malls, Avery and succeeding top executives had been reluctant to pursue such expansion. They stuck to their downtown and main street stores until the company had lost too much market share to compete with its rivals. After Avery's departure in 1955, it was two years before the first new store since the 1930s was opened. Wards tried to become more aggressive with store opening, but it was too late. As the existing stores looked worn and disheveled, malls would often not allow Wards to build there. Its catalog business had also begun to slip by the 1960s.