As I think back to the weekend I opened my store a short time ago, I am in awe of how fast time has gone by. We had the grand opening of Kelli’s Fashions on Thanksgiving weekend 2006. My store is named after my oldest granddaughter. I often get called Kelli …. I just smile and carry on.
The decision to open a ladies’ clothing store came from my closest friend, Joyce Rasmussen. Joyce gave me a call as she had something she wanted to talk to me about but it should be done in person. “I think you should open a ladies’ clothing store.” I burst out laughing. Yeah right …. I had no idea where to even start. This would be something I wanted to try.
Pretty soon boxes started arriving. OH MY GOSH! Now I was over whelmed but met that challenge head on …. I needed to hire some staff as I could not do all this by myself. Luckily, I hired excellent ladies to work with me. Everything was falling into place like it was meant to be. I was pretty excited and when word got out that I was opening a clothing store, positive comments were coming my way.
At Kelli’s Fashions, “We love what we do and we do what we love!” I strongly feel when ladies walk into Kelli’s Fashions, they get treated with respect and consideration. We call them by name. We feel the time spent with our customers to be important from the time they walk in till the time they leave. I do, however, understand when walking into a store in the city that the sales people cannot have the same attention as we do in Assiniboia. They do not know us by name or where we’re from. Fortunately, I do know a lot of people from this area and surrounding communities. That is huge in my estimation. Calling someone by name …. super important!
Have I enjoyed my job? Absolutely! Going into my 15th year, I am happy Joyce thought I could take on this challenge. Of course, I have great concerns with COVID-19. We are not going through easy or fun times. I am a firm believer that when you are from Saskatchewan, you are strong and we will get through this!
I love my province and I am very thankful for our customers. I am very proud of Premier Scott Moe and Dr. Shahab. They are working so hard to keep us healthy and safe. They have had to make some very difficult decisions, which I feel will help us beat this pandemic. To our frontline workers; thank you so much for looking after us! Your hard work and dedication are not going unnoticed!
Let’s remember “This too shall pass!”
