A DARLINGTON woman whose career at House of Fraser has spanned 34 years, has worked her last shift.
Heather Mason began working at Darlington’s famous department store on High Row as a Saturday girl aged 16 in 1988.
Since then, she has seen a lot of changes, such as the manual stock takings from decades ago to the refit in 2016 which saw the shop have a much-needed facelift.
Within ten years of starting, Heather became a department manager and once she got a taste for this role, there was no turning back.
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Heather said: “I’ll miss the people the most. We have a lot of regular customers and you got to know them by name.
“I enjoyed working with the different teams over the years and helping them to do their job. I’ll miss the job but I also know it’s time to go.”
Heather has managed various teams over the years including beauty, home and fashion over the years, before being assistant store manager for the last nine years.
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Her last day was Saturday (May 28) which she described as a “lovely day.”
As a manager, Heather has been in charge of interviewing and training staff over the years, something she said she enjoyed.
Heather has remained a popular member of staff at House of Fraser and looked back on how things have changed over the years.
“I remember when someone would want to pay by card back in the day and we’d have to take the card and put it into a machine that took an imprint of it. No contactless or chip and pin back then”, she recalled.
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“I also enjoyed working on the operational side of things and taking deliveries but working with people has been the best part. The store always prided itself on VIP customer service and I’m glad I contributed to that.”
House of Fraser is at the heart of Darlington town centre and after many other department stores in the North East have sadly disappeared over the last few years, including Debenhams in Stockton, however, Darlington’s House of Fraser does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
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