“Mary Stanford retires after 25 years” |
| Mary Stanford retires after 25 years Posted: 10 Aug 2010 12:27 PM PDT  Mary Stanford is greeted by Rodney Shirey at her retirement party last Thursday. Photo by Anita Kilgore "Some of the people I sold engagement rings to, I got to sell engagement rings to their children. Does that not make you feel old?" said Stanford with a chuckle. "But it is wonderful that they trusted me enough and liked me enough to come back and their children come back." Stanford said that the city has really changed over the two and a half decades she has worked. "Jacksonville has really changed and grown over the last 25 years, it is absolutely wonderful," said Stanford. One of the biggest changes has been with Jacksonville State University. Stanford said as the college has grown, so has the number of university students coming into her store. "You just get so close to the college kids and some of their parents even come in to see me when they come to town," said Stanford. Stanford said she would often keep her customers even after they left the city. Her customers would often keep up with her and make purchases by mail. "They call me and say 'Mrs. Mary, pick out something' and I just ship it to them. I have a list of people I just do their shopping for them," laughed Stanford. "(Husbands' wives) would send cards back that said, 'I know you shopped for him, but I loved it.'" Stanford did not look at the people in her store as customers, but as friends. "Whenever you love what you do, it does become a relationship between people. Good relationships. You keep that friendship for life. That is the part I am going to miss," said Stanford. Stanford's daughter, Kim, will be replacing her mother as manager of the store. She recently moved to Jacksonville from Kentucky and has been training under her mom for about a month. Kim said she has enjoyed learning from her mom. "I absolutely love it. I have seen so many people that have been customers with mom for years. She is training me about the way she treats customers and about the merchandise. Everything I need to know, I have learned from mom; not only about life, but know through work," said Kim. Kim said that of all the things her mother taught her about the business, the number one thing is customer service. "The most important thing is to always listen to the customer. Find them exactly what they are looking for. And when their eyes start to sparkle, you found the right thing," said Kim. Mary Stanford will also celebrate another milestone next month. She and her husband, Belton Stanford, will celebrate 50 years of marriage in August. She said the secret to a long, happy marriage was simple. "I think you have to have God as the center of our life, then communication and respect for each other. That 's what we always had. But, if you don't have God and you don't have communication then the relationship will not last," said Stanford. Stanford said she has a lot of plans to spend her extra time, but there is one thing she can't wait to do. "We are going to do some traveling with some good friends, but the first thing I am going to do is drink some coffee on my front porch in the morning," said Stanford. Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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