Closing Shocked Early Armstrong’s Employee

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31831, 8 November 1968, Page 2

Closing Shocked Early Armstrong’s Employee

Possibly the oldest living employee of T. Armstrong and Company, Ltd, Mrs Ethel Tennent, of Nelson, found it hard to believe when told her old 2rm had closed down. Mrs Tennent, now 88, worked at the cash desk from 1897 to 1902, when she left to marry.

On all her visits to Christchurch, Mrs Tennent has taken a walk through the shop to see the changes made and to revive memories—entering by the Colombo Street door she used daily for more than four years as an employee. But not this time. Armstrongs closed suddenly before she had a chance to make her usual call. As Miss Ethel Martin, she was 17 and not long out of school when she joined the staff to look after the cash desk. In those days every article purchased in the shop was taken by a sales assistant to the desk in the middle of the shop. There Miss Martin had

to check it, wrap and tie the parcel with string, take the cash and give it to the customer.

Only in rush periods did she have any assistance, usually from a member of the Armstrong family, often from the founder of the firm, the late Mr Thomas Armstrong, senior. “And I don’t remember ever giving anyone the wrong change,” Mrs Tennent said in Christchurch yesterday. Embarrassment Not all customers liked the cash desk system. Some of the men were apparently embarrassed when underclothing they had bought was wrapped by a young woman while they waited. She remembers a clergyman who “did not know where to look.” Mr Thomas Armstrong supervised the desk and was never far away. The girl behind the desk was responsible to him alone and he would take over while she went to lunch. “I was paid 12s fid a week

when 1 started and that was considered a good wage in those days,” Mrs Tennent said. She worked six days a week, until 9 p.m. on Saturdays, and had a half-day off during the week. News of Queen Victoria’s death came when Mrs Tennent was behind her desk. When Mr Armstrong senior heard it he said: “Close the shop,” and sent the staff home.

One late shopping night near Christmas a gramophone

was put on the cash desk, records were played and customers flocked in and blocked the entrance to hear and see the “new marvel,” she said. Mrs Tennent remembers the scramble to cover bolts of material, standing in the doorway to attract customers, whenever it rained. A waft of chicory still reminds her of the heavy odour that hung over the shop on noriwest days, from a nearby coffee and spice factory. “Armstrongs was a good firm to work for and I enjoyed being there. I am shocked that it has closed down,” Mrs Tennent said.