Two Asda colleagues celebrate 50 years at Barrow store

Yvonne Crabtree and Pauline Webster have worked at the ASDA supermarket on Walney Road, Barrow, since it opened in 1974. 

The store opened in February of that year and Yvonne, one of the store's checkout operators, started working in April while Pauline followed in September. 

Pauline said she remembered the store being built and that it was one of the first out-of-town stores in the area.

Asda Store in Barrow (Image: Google Maps)

"As I had always worked in retail I applied and went for an interview and began working there in September as a checkout operator," she said.

"Those were the days pre-scanning and you had to punch the price into the till while moving the shopping along the conveyor belt with a foot pedal. 

"I remained a checkout operator for a few years before moving into the kiosk where I am at present. I still enjoy going to work and serving and chatting to old and new customers."

She explained she had seen 'lots of changes' over the years.

"We have a good social life amongst our colleagues where I organise nights out and weekends away and our annual shopping trip for past and present colleagues.  We are more than friends now - we are like Asda family," she said.

The store's community champion Gill Gerrish says all her colleagues love the 'golden girls' as they are affectionately known.

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Gill said: "As a checkout operator on the front end, Yvonne is always very caring, polite, courteous to customers and colleagues, and delivers customer service diligently. There are certain customers who will quite happily wait in a queue just so that they can be served by Yvonne. Nothing is too much trouble, and she's a lovely lady.

"Pauline works in our kiosk and is a real livewire. She makes no bones about her age, but will be the first to say ''age is only a number'.

"She's always happy and smiling, laughing and joking with customers and engages well with colleagues alike. Over the years Pauline has served different generations of families and always asks how they are, and what they are up to."