my prayers go out to the 37,000 people being laid off by Montgomery Wards, as they file for bankrupty. over 100 years in business, and now no more. what a history, now just a historical footnote.

looks like the coming recession in 2001 might be a little worse.

gene

-- gene ward (gward34847@aol.com), December 28, 2000

Answers

Gene, very sad indeed. My aunt worked for Wards for years up until the 70s and maybe even early 80s. MW has been having financial problems since at least then and it has been getting worse since. Hopefully, this wasn't a surprize to their employees. That's a lot of people. I hope they live in areas where there are other jobs and I hope there's enough money for some retraining for them, too.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), December 28, 2000.

i remember with fond memories my very first real job. i was a senior in high school and worked afterschool at the local montgomery wards in mangum oklahoma. it was a small town of about 2,500 people. i had a blast in this small town store. the owner was my direct boss, everyday we had fun. as i reflect back on the good times we had, i am sad to see a significant chapter of american history closing. such a shame.

in fact, we were exactly next door to the sears store, sharing a common wall. i bought everything i could at wards, using my paycheck, but with my bosses blessing i went next door to sears to buy hand tools. i still have those sears craftsman handtools to this very day.

gene

-- just me again (gward34847@aol.com), December 28, 2000.

I too feel very bad to see them closing after all these years. I graduated from high school in 1972 and in the Fall got my first job in the catalog dept at Wards in Kingston, N.Y. I stayed until 1982 when they phased out our catalog dept. I really missed and still do that job, that was my favorite place to work. We had just a few employees and it was like a family, with xmas parties, etc. My boss, Ella and I still remain friends after all these years. It really is a sad thing to see such a great store coming to an end.

-- Carla (hoycarla@hotmail.com), December 29, 2000.

Yes, it is sad. It was also a bad day for a lot of people who work for Union Pacific Railroad. They announced a lay off of somewhere between 2500 and 3000. And so it goes.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 29, 2000.

Wards closed our local store 2 years ago, Wards was in bankruptcy then. It's not so much recession but being able to compete with Wal- Mart and other discount stores.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), December 29, 2000.

This is what happens when you see boxes that say in large letters "MADE IN USA" and in smaller print it says "Made in ?????". I have heard that there are actually some cities that are heavy in manufacturing, that have renamed themselves Usa.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 29, 2000.

Remember when Sears & Monkey Ward's put out a really thick annual catalog with everything from live pigs & chickens to rebuilt car engines? When the new one came, the old one was still useful - in the outhouse. I think their demise began when they started selling only the more popular items, publishing frequent small specialized catalogs, and opening retail stores all over the place. Of course now with the internet, it's hard to guess what's going to happen to retailing. When an old neo-Luddite like me can sit in a cabin out in the woods and order anything he can think of by next-day air...scary.

-- Sam in W.Va. (turnip55a@yahoo.com), December 30, 2000.

Did ya also know MW came up with rudolph the red nosed reindeer ?

-- Doc (Thisisdoc@aol.com), January 04, 2001.