When Valerie Adams donned the Marks and Spencer uniform for the first time in the 1980s, it was supposed to be just for a few brief months.
She ended up staying for 26 happy years, overseeing the shop during its bustling heyday and becoming part of “one big family”.
Today, she is one of many former employees looking back on decades spent among the aisles of the Aberdeen store, sorting out cashmere sweaters or pink Percy Pig cupcakes.
And before the St Nicholas branch shuts its doors for good, the retiree recalls the years at the flagship M&S as “one of the most enjoyable in her life”.
Almost 100 former Marks and Spencer workers today gathered to celebrate the store’s long-standing history, and “the huge part it played in the lives of many”.
Years after she retired, Valerie still remembers the buzz of the shopfloor and the staff Christmas parties at the Marcliffe Hotel, which she wouldn’t miss for the world.
“Compared to many of my other colleagues, I came to Marks and Spencer quite late,” the 79-year-old chuckles over a glass of fizz, glancing over a wall covered with scores of old photos.
“I was in my 30s and was taken on as a seasonal worker – first working in the textile section and then moving to the food hall.
“But then a few months turned into 26 years, and I couldn’t be more glad that I got to experience this.
“The lovely people, the Christmas parties, the fantastic nights out at the Frigate Bar, the lovely friendships I made – it all still lives in my memory.
“We were all part of one big family.”
How has the Marks and Spencer store changed over the last 50 years?
Sipping on a tea with some M&S treats on the side, the alumni tell us of different times at the store, back when staff had to uphold stricter rules.
And some of the requirements would likely be incomprehensible – and a tad peculiar – to the younger generation that now works there.
Maureen McGregor is one the longest-serving Marks and Spencer store managers, having started at the St Nicholas branch in 1970 when she was 15 years old.
She kicked off her career straight after school and never looked back, putting “a lot of hours and hard work” to make the store the best it could have been.
“Everything was a lot different back then,” Maureen explains as she flicks through an album with sepia-tinted photos, most taken on M&S nights out over the years.
“Everything was a lot stricter – you weren’t allowed to wear dangling earrings, no coloured hair, and there was no way you can show up to work in a creased uniform.
“We worked hard and played hard. That was not just our job, it was our life.”
‘If you get a job at Marks and Spencer, it was for life’
The 70-year-old recalls the times when she would stay late into the night working on Christmas Eve, showing up bright and early at 6am the next day for another shift.
She now reflects on these times with a big smile, however, looking back to the life-long friendships she has made over the years.
“The company was good to us, and we were good to them,” Maureen adds.
“That’s why we never even thought about leaving.
“But it was also how things were back then – if you get a job at Marks and Spencer, it was for life.”
‘We all grew up alongside Marks and Spencer’
Linda O’Rawe is another who has dedicated the majority of her life to the landmark store at St Nicholas Square.
Donning the official Marks and Spencer uniform from the 1980s, Linda looks around the cramped room on the third floor of the city centre building and says “this is home”.
She has spent 50 years with Marks and Spencer, and tells us that the memories have all come flooding back at today’s emotional event.
“We did a talk today about the store and I almost broke down at the end of it,” Linda admits.
“We all grew up with Marks and Spencer, and a lot of us have been friends for years and years.
“I left school at 15 and came here. We’ve all left school, got married and had kids whilst we’ve been here.
“My sister worked here, my friend’s mum and her daughters worked here… It was all one big family.”
‘This store is no stranger to change – and I remember it all…’
As the closure of the flagship branch marks the end of an era for many, Isabel Strath recalls all the big changes she came to see as a store manager in years gone by.
“When I started off it was just the one floor, but soon went to two, then three, then four,” she remembers.
During her 30 years of service, she oversaw the introduction of the credit card to daily shopping, but it’s the memories and laughs with colleagues that sticks in her mind.
“It’s mainly the staff and the camaraderie that I remember most fondly,” Isabel grins.
From the Don to Hong Kong
Enjoying a selection from the spread, Jackie Rennie looks back on her 42 years as a manager at the store with great fondness.
“I have lots of great memories working here,” she tells us.
But the one that stands out the most to her is being posted out more than 5,000 miles away to train staff in Hong Kong.
“It was amazing, the position came up and I just applied for it and managed to get it,” she recalls with a smile.
‘Marks and Spencer was the perfect way to finish my career’
Ella Gowl has perhaps one of the most unusual stories when it comes to her experience at Marks and Spencer.
While many of the others had started at store in their teens, Ella had a long career as a council worker and running a guest house under her belt when she joined in 1995.
Now 87, she became a shop assistant at the St Nicholas branch when she was 51 years old – without any prior experience in retail.
But she quickly grew fond of the place, and the “fantastic” people that worked there.
“My experience here was probably rather unconventional,” she jokes.
“I started working here because I wanted something different, a new challenge I suppose – and I didn’t know the first thing about working in a shop.
“But I ended up spending eight years here and I learned so much. It was a complete change of lifestyle and the perfect way to finish my working career.”
Marks and Spencer closure ‘just part of the journey’
No stranger to change, Ella thinks the closure of the city centre branch is “just part of the journey”.
The British department store giants announced the closure of the St Nicholas Centre amid the expansion of the Union Square branch in January last year.
Marks and Spencer chiefs say this newly upgraded shop will be on par with their flagship stores in Liverpool and Birmingham.
And when asked how she feels about the closure, Ella simply says: “It’s life…Things change and we need to take it all as it comes and move on to the next best thing.”
She is not the only one who thinks the St Nicholas branch has come to “the end of its days”.
Valerie – the seasonal turned long-standing employee – also reckons now is a good time for a change, and is excited about the “bigger and better” store at Union Square.
She says: “It’s sad but you can see that it’s not the Markie’s I remember…The one where the bigwigs used to come, all of us lined up in our neat uniforms to welcome them.
“The building is now a bit downtrodden, and I think it was time for a change.”
And well travelled finance worker Jackie feels the Marks and Spencer closure will be a tearjerker for her and her peers.
She said: “It will absolutely be emotional for everyone in this room.”
Marks and Spencer closure event all for a good cause
But it wasn’t just a day for reminiscing about days gone by, as the crowd of pensioners also managed to raise more than £3,300 for Friends of Anchor.
And as the bittersweet event draws to a close, the former employees pack their albums and trinkets holding thousands of memories and move on to their next adventure.
Or in their case, a “wholesome supper” with good old friends that have lasted a lifetime.
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