I Should Have Kept My Wards Card

I was feeling a little nostalgic the other week when I was surfing the ‘Net and wondered if there was any online presence of my old place of employment, Montgomery Ward, or what later became known as Wards. The store I worked at in Duluth closed in May 1999 and eventually all stores closed in 2001.

There used to be a Web site created by what I assumed was a former disgruntled Wards employee called “Why I Hate Working at Montgomery Ward.” My friend Michele and I could relate to the site as we were both plugging away at the Duluth store. She was in the kids department, I was in domestics. She moved to housewares, so we were in the same area for a while.

Anyways, upon my online investigation, I learned that Wards is now basically an online and catalog-based retailer. Direct Marketing Services, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, bought most of the Wards assets.

I only browsed the Web site (www.wards.com) for a little bit, mainly checking out the shirts in the apparel section. When I worked at the Duluth store, I did get many deals on clothes, and Wards did have some nice stuff here and there. I still have a few of those items, including a couple of favorite broomstick skirts. The prices for the online store are a little more expensive than the retail stores, but I only did look at one section of a category. Maybe the other items, such as electronics or bedding aren’t as bad.

But I have to admit, it was quite the surprise to see that Wards is still living on, albeit in a different format.