In the late sixties I returned to Connecticut from a yearlong stay in Johannesburg, South Africa. I lived a nomadic childhood, moving over twenty times, and yet once I returned from overseas, I was determined to save money and travel the world again. So much for youthful plans. I ended up living with my parents in a farmhouse in Montville and I have lived within a half hour of that old house for decades. The changes I have seen in this area are staggering.

Shortly after I came home I got a job as a beauty advisor at G.Fox in Hartford, which means I drove RT. 85 to RT. 2, from Chesterfield to Hartford every day, before RT.11 went in. That was fun in the winter and really fun late at night with no cell phones and only one pay phone, in a gas station phone booth, half way home.

Before shopping centers started popping up, G. Fox was the go-to all-day store for everything from baby clothes to bridal gowns. Even though getting there was a big deal, back roads all the way, everyone knew Fox and shopped Fox, especially for back-to-school clothes.

They don’t make stores like G. Fox anymore, in fact it seems as if they are closing flag-ship department stores on a daily basis. At one time it was the largest privately owned department store in the country. My memory may be a bit rusty but what I remember most was how special Mrs. Auerbach’s G. Fox was.

Most people don’t know that G. Fox had a hospital on the 11th floor. Full time nurse, hospital beds, three I think with curtains in-between. During training I was told the store had its own electrical generating system, in a bunker under the street in front of the store. When we needed change we put money in a metal tube by the register, (like plastic tubes at bank drive-ups now), and it shot to the cash-room money-elves in the basement and returned in less than a minute.

About twenty of us trained at the same time in a well-equipped classroom in the basement. I sat next to a German girl (can’t remember her name) who was hired to work in the Ski department located on the mezzanine. She was an expert skier, Olympic quality she said. We were all experts I guess. G. Fox made every one of us feel very important.

On the fifth floor designer clothes were sold. It was a rumor that in order to work in that clothing department you had to have a college degree. No salary plus killer commission for me, I only had one year of college. But I helped make women beautiful as the highest paid beauty advisor in the department, $2.00 an hour, plus a teeny-tiny commission paid by Revlon, the line I represented.

The cosmetic Department of G. Fox was huge; a store within a store, with every line of women’s cosmetics and men’s fragrances represented. Visually it was like walking into a crystal palace that provided even the plainest among us the chance to look, smell and be beautiful.

I worked in Mrs. Auerbach’s store for about a year until I was transferred to another Revlon counter in the brand new indoor mall in the New London Shopping center. Now that was an up and coming place to work, with The Outlet at one end and Two Guys at the other. It was no G. Fox but it was convenient.

Because I’ve worked in retail for so many years, in so many stores in this area, I am amazed by the continued fondness for Mrs. Auerbach and G. Fox, and the pleasant memories it provokes, for folks who remember when service came before price. Now we order on line and the only service we get is free shipping, if we’re lucky.

You can reach Carolynn at cp.enoughsaid@aol.com.