I think it is a crying shame that Wards is going out of business. In 1966, I was just out of the Army, didn’t know what I wanted to do and, just to have a job, took a position at Wards Catalog Outlet Store in the basement of the mail-order building at 618 W. Chicago Ave. I found I really liked the people and the job.
Of the eight jobs I’ve held (six of the other companies I worked for are also out of business), I enjoyed working at Wards most. The bosses and fellow employees were great people. I made many good friends. I also learned many valuable lessons on dealing with people, which helped me out later, when I owned my own small retail business for many years.
All in all, I have many great memories of Wards. It’s too bad that a large, non-retail corporation ran it into the ground. What does GE know about running a store? It spent millions remodeling the stores, but it didn’t have anyone to wait on customers. What a shame.
