TOUGH LESSONS AMONG TOUGHSKINS
Back to School at Sears 1980's The year was 1980. I had not been in South Florida long. I was working on my second checklist (salaried) job in the Cutler Ridge SEARS store, one of many in the Miami Zone, only a few miles North of Homestead, Florida and Key Largo. It was a long way from my West Kentucky roots. Cutler was classified as a company “A” store, one of the largest in terms of assortment, square footage, and volume, and the culture both in the workplace and general population was a substantial departure from the laidback lifestyle and rural environment of West Kentucky. Spanish, from a large population of Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants, was spoken as often as English. Demographics for the marketplace also included a substantial mix of a Black and also South American customer base, along with a slim majority of White native Floridians and the snowbird retirees of all ethnic backgrounds living their dream of spending thei...