It's been one week since Sears Sudbury closed its doors; a loss for longtime shoppers, but without compare for its employees. Some may be wondering how the staff members are making out. For now, they seem focused on remembering the good times.
Helene Brisson would have been at Sears Sudbury for 29 years in April.
Thinking about the day she was hired, she gets emotional: "I had just moved to Sudbury, I wanted to get into Sears. I was a very shy person and (Sylvia, the hiring manager) took the time. I said to her, 'thank you for doing that for me, because you have no idea what you created in my life.'"
A veritable lifetime of memories are shared around Marilyn Martin's table. Combined, the four women put in 85 years at Sears in New Sudbury.
Marilyn was part of the second round of layoffs from Sears that happened four years ago. She continues to host get-togethers for her co-workers. "I loved that company, I loved my job, and I loved my co-workers," she said. She was at Sears for 27 years.
"Do you remember Super Saturdays?" Helene asks. The ladies clarify that they mean the "old Super Saturdays, when you couldn't even get through the door."
Helene continues, "They would sit their kids on the carpets and say 'Stay there, don't move, I'll go pay for it.' I remember one man sitting in a boat and he wouldn't get out of the boat. He gave his wife his credit card and told her to go buy it. You couldn't even move through the aisles."
Incredibly, someone stole a canoe from the store once, and was never caught. How does someone steal a canoe? The same way any canoe is moved from place to place on-land: via portage.
Listening to the ladies speak, one realizes their memories are not just personal, but Canadian.
"The Wishbook," Shelly Rothney, who was at Sears for 15 years, says wistfully, "Everyone said, 'What am I going to do without the Wishbook'? But every year it got smaller and smaller and smaller."
Staff at Sears got smaller, also. According to Martin, the store employed about 500 people 43 years ago. By September 2017, only 18 full-time employees and 85 part-timers remained.
"So many people said to me, 'There's more to life than Sears.' I gave my life to Sears," says Cindy Mikus, who was let go four years ago after 14 years in management.
Cindy was able to find another job quickly, and Marilyn retired to care for her aging mother. Shelly and Helene are currently job searching, and Helene says she's totally "done with retail: the cuts took the joy out of it."
The same spirit that made Helene an innovative asset to her team shines through as she talks about the future: "What I want, I will go for. Nothing will stop me."
The closing of Sears in the start of a new year marks the end of an era in Canadian retail and a beginning for approximately 12,000 former Sears employees across Canada.
The fate of employee pensions and consequences of Sears insolvency were not discussed among the women even once. The store has closed, but the memories, gratitude and friendship that were developed within the store have a permanent home in the hearts of at least four of the Sudbury store's employees.
Current and former Sears employees pose together for a final photo on the last day of business for the Sudbury store. (Supplied)
