Reminiscing About Retail

Confessions of a Cashier

By: Becky Corwin-Adams

Narrated by: Rich McVicar

Do you remember the dime stores of the 60s? Did you ever shop at G.C. Murphy's, Woolworth's, or Newberry's? Discount department stores became very popular in the 70s and dime stores began to close. Stores like Kmart, Grant City, Murphy's Mart, Hills, and Ames provided a great shopping experience for American families. Most of those chains closed their doors in the 80s and 90s. The glory days of department store shopping have faded away and we now live in a big box world.

I always loved shopping in downtown Defiance, Ohio when I was growing up in the 60s. My favorite store was G.C. Murphy's. The day I celebrated my 16th birthday, I applied for a job at Murphy's. I was hired a few weeks later. After living in North Dakota for four years as a young Air Force wife, I moved back to Ohio. Retail was still in my blood. I always thought I would go back to work at Murphy's someday. By this time, most of the Murphy's stores had closed and new Murphy's Marts were built to replace the smaller dime stores. We lived very close to Kmart in Bryan. The store was just a short walk across the field near our house. I applied for a job at Kmart and was soon hired, since I had previous retail experience at Murphy's. I worked at Kmart for a total of 17 years.

Did you ever wonder what it was like to work in one of these stores? How difficult was it to operate a manual cash register before bar codes and scanners made the task much easier? Listen about Halloween costume contests, shoplifting stories, and bluelight specials. Follow the adventures of six family members who all worked at the same store. If you have ever worked in retail, or dreamed of a career in retail, then this is the audiobook for you!

©2013 Becky Corwin-Adams (P)2013 Becky Corwin-Adams

Lol!

I never get enough of this authors passion. In this case for shopping. Yes the book is about shopping and how it feels to be on the other end of 'the customer is always correct'. Lol. I started working part time at the age of 16 as well. So I had plenty a chuckle at this authors description of life on the other side of the till.

I also really appreciated the narrator as well. She sounded as if she needed to swallow a chuckle a time or two which made me laugh harder!

WaAr

Narrator is tops, story has only regional appeal

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would change adding all the boring details listing stores.

Would you be willing to try another book from Becky Corwin-Adams? Why or why not?

Probably not listen to another by author but definitely by narrator.

Which scene was your favorite?

Enjoyed the story of the customer who paid with money kept in their sweaty armpit.

Any additional comments?

This story was really one for people who lived regionally in Bryan or Defiance Ohio. Or maybe someone who was a die hard Kmart employee. Too much minute boring detail on the actual stores and the history of stores that came and went. Was expecting more of a frolicking bunch of stories of customers and that came way later and not enough. And it always felt like the stories were too short - where were the fun descriptive details. I felt like there were some hidden things or private jokes in some of those stories that weren't to be shared with the listener. I have worked in retail in a small private five and dime and was looking for more. The Narrator made this book a good listen - he was very talented.

Reminiscing about retail

I listened to the Audible version.This is a fun rememberence of one families journey working at several department store chains through the years.The stories are funny and bring back memories for anyone who has ever worked retail.I question the selection of a male to narrate a womans rememberence book.It was odd hearing his descripyions of his husband,children,etc,though Rich McVicar does a nice job."I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast or MalarHouse dot com"

Boring

Unless you are the minority that grew up in this town, and are interested in small town retail history, you may find this quite dull. And the voiceover talent just phoned it in. Altogether he didn’t have much to work with.

cozy and fun

some say it's boring but I think it's nice to learn about the past so I really enjoyed it