Kiley Wellendorf | Blogger

When I moved up to Buena Vista University, I made a point to drive around Storm Lake and hopefully find connections that made me feel more at home. I found a nail place, a tanning salon, and fell madly in love with the downtown set up. Not only does Storm Lake rock a similar “old-fashioned” appearance, but their downtown is equipped with my favorite hometown store – Maurices. I felt at home, and when I began looking for jobs to apply for, Maurices felt absolutely perfect. Granted, I had never worked in retail before, but I loved fashion, and I knew this could be a great learning experience. Once I was hired, I made sure that I started out with a super cute wardrobe and couldn’t wait to get on the floor and help others shop. Let me tell you this – I was absolutely terrified. Credit cards, Take Ten cards, old punch cards, returns, exchanges, etc. I had never even thought about how many pins are used to dress a mannequin (three for core, five for plus), or how easily old hangers break when they’re stuffed in the clearance section.

I spent the first three months shaking in my boots because I felt as if I wasn’t cut out for fashion. As a “newbie,” training is intense at first, but eases up over time. Videos were watched, tracks were played at the cash-wrap, and hands-on experience was taught to me. However, there are a few feelings you get as you really begin working with this company. I picked out presents for girlfriends, outfits for country concerts, band and choir performance outfits, birthday and Christmas gifts, date-night outfits, and many, many, more. Nobody tells you how exciting it is when someone comes up to you and says they want your exact outfit, or when a customer’s face lights up when you show them jeans that work, or even when your favorite song on the Maurices CD plays throughout the store. (For example, the new Maurices CD features a Fall Out Boy song – you can only imagine how excited I was.)

During my time at Maurices, I brought and ate over four fruit pizzas with my coworkers, laughed until I cried during every shift with Jenny, learned how to be quick and efficient while cleaning the store with Kayla, picked out amazing outfits with Chelsey, caught up on life and gossip with Maclayn, and asked Leah over a billion questions. I bought over six pairs of jeans, a skirt, three purses, way too many accessories, and well over fifteen tops (Mom, if you’re reading this, I love you.) I have never had so much fun with a group of women in my entire life, and I can’t imagine being part of any other Maurices team. We picked out each other’s outfits, told each other life stories, critiqued outfits, and built shelves and moved around the store together.
Even when I complained about being stressed out, wore weird outfits, or begged my coworkers to buy me donuts during their lunch breaks – everyone went out of their way to welcome me in. My freshman year would be incomplete without the memories I made while being part of such a wonderful company.

Dear Darlin’ – Olly Murs
This song is so weird, but I absolutely love it.

Chloe (You’re The One I Want) – Emblem3
I never was a fan, but once I heard and understood the lyrics, I always sang it to my coworkers.
Halcyon – Ellie Goulding
Ellie Goulding is surprisingly really popular with Maurices, and this was by far my favorite song played.

Home This Christmas – Justin Bieber
Folding sweaters to this song was my absolute favorite part about working during winter. Also, the amount of Christmas songs Mariah Carey is a part of needs to stop. Please.

Crash My Party – Luke Bryan
There is seriously nothing better than folding jeans and tank tops to a sappy Luke Bryan song. I apologize to any customers who heard me whisper-sing this song whenever it came on.

The House That Built Me – Miranda Lambert
This song particularly stuck out to me because it was a song I usually looked forward to hearing while working at the store. I never had really listened to country music, but I eventually developed a strong love for pretty lyrics and southern accents after working at Maurices. “Out here it’s like I’m someone else – I thought that maybe I could find myself.” How perfect is that?

The Middle – Jimmy Eat World
We recently received a “Throwback Thursday” CD with songs we all grew up singing to when we were little kids. Our store was remodeled last week, and while this song started to play on the “Throwback” CD, I watched as every rack was cleared out of the store. Within an hour, our entire store was completely empty as sales associates, managers, and carpenters hurried to start the remodel. It was such a crazy moment and the song playing in the background made me feel like I was in a movie. Ah, I love it.

Graphic by Aaron Burns