Longtime employee reflects on 50 years of Kmart in New Kensington

When Rosemary Cribbs took a job as holiday help at the New Kensington Kmart to earn money for Christmas presents, she didn't expect it to be permanent.

Nearly 43 years later, she is the most senior employee at the store that's celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

“The years go by fast,” Cribbs said. She stayed simply because: “I liked it; it's a nice place to work.”

And she's not the only one who has put in decades at the store.

At least three employees have retired in the past several years after more than 40 years. One has worked there since the day the store opened.

“It's funny: you want to leave, but you don't want to leave after you've been here for so long,” said Cribbs, 68, of Lower Burrell, who now works part time.

Cribbs remembers the day the store opened on Feb. 27, 1964.

“It was something,” she said. “It was just enormous. We didn't have anything like that around here anywhere.”

The store was the 54th in the Kmart chain.

The corporation, which began as a chain of Kresge's Five and Dime stores, was one of the first retailers to open large stores in shopping centers with multiple checkout counters.

A large picture of the grand opening hung at the entrance on Thursday shows a parking lot packed with cars.

Cribbs said in her early years there, the store was bustling with customers.

“We'd have lines,” she said. “Sometimes, they would come clear back through half of the (sales) floor.”

Part of it had to do with the fact that all the merchandise was hand-ticketed. A cashier had to key the price and department into the register to ring it up.

But it was also a popular place to shop.

“Things wouldn't stay on the counters,” Cribbs said. “Paper towels and napkins, they had to keep filling them.”

At that time, employees had to go through the store and hand-write orders to restock merchandise, Cribbs said.

Now the computerized cash registers automatically track when something needs to be ordered.

Cribbs said she's done a lot of different jobs since she started, including the time-consuming tasks of ticketing and ordering merchandise.

Cribbs started as an evening door greeter. After six years, she moved to the hosiery department — which earned her the name “Rosie from Hosie” among the “old-timers,” as they call themselves.

Then she moved to the claims department where defective merchandise is processed. She also worked as cashier supervisor, at the service desk and spent 18 years as manager of the electronics department.

She's now back in the claims department, which says she likes the most because of the variety of jobs.

Cribbs said she can't imagine that she'll work there too much longer, perhaps another year or so.

Former employee Bill Smith, of Lower Burrell, who retired three years ago after 45 years at the store, joked that Cribbs was sticking around so she can beat the number of years he put in.

“She could (retire), but she likes to work and keep busy,” he said.

Cribbs will celebrate her 43rd anniversary with the company in October.

New Ken store still a strong performer

Though the store parking lot isn't as full as it once was, the location performs strongly, said manager Jerry Zvonko-vich.

He said that the store, in the Riverview Plaza along Tarentum Bridge Road, sells the second largest amount of live plants in its Garden Shop in the company's Eastern Region.

“Think about all the places that have closed in the time that we've been here — Hills, Ames, Montgomery Ward,” Zvonkovich said. “We're still here, and we love being here.”

He said celebrating the 50th anniversary was a low-key affair, with free cupcakes and water for customers; along with a banner that will hang outside the store thanking customers for their patronage.

Zvonkovich said customers were telling him stories about the grand opening.

“A guy told me when they advertised the grand opening, the ad said ‘free helicopter rides.'

When he got down here, he realized that it was the kiddie ride in front of the store,” he said. “So it's been a fun day.”

Jodi Weigand is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4702 or jweigand@tribweb.com.