Elizabeth Lovecchio, soon to turn 88, will retire from Boscov’s on May 8. She began working at the downtown Wilkes-Barre department store in 1970, when it was known as Fowler, Dick & Walker, The Boston Store.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
WB woman retiring after half a century at Boscov’s
When Elizabeth Lovecchio’s third child started school in the fall of 1970, she decided it was time for a new beginning for Mom, too.
The Wilkes-Barre woman applied for a job at a place where she already enjoyed shopping. She got the job at what was then Fowler, Dick & Walker, The Boston Store in downtown Wilkes-Barre, and now, almost 56 years later, she’s going to retire on May 8, which is her 88th birthday.
“I have to say I had a good job there,” said Lovecchio, adding that seeing her co-workers on a regular basis is the part she’ll miss most as she retires from the department store, now known as Boscov’s.
She did take some time off in 1972, when she gave birth to her fourth child, but soon she was back at the store, where stints in the shoe department and Misses clothing gave way to decades at the courtesy desk.
“You do get to meet so many people,” she said, explaining she enjoyed the way customers would stop and “chit chat about anything.”
When her children — Anthony, Tom, Kelly Ann, and Antoinette — were growing up, she was grateful for the ways the department store accommodated working moms. She was able to leave work at 2:30 p.m. every day to be home when the kids got home from school. “I cooked supper every day,” she said.
It was also OK with the store if an employee took the entire summer off, to coincide with her children’s break from school.
“They were very caring,” she said of the store management.
In the early days, Lovecchio walked to work from her home in the Heights section of Wilkes-Barre. Later, her husband, Albert, would give her a ride. After he passed away in 2003, she realized that going to Boscov’s every day “was good therapy” for her.
Most recently, she’s been commuting to work through the LCTA Ride Share program. And when she would arrive at the store, a coworker would bring her a shopping cart to lean on as she made her way to her department. She’s not altogether happy about retiring, but has allowed her family to convince her it was time.
When you like a place as much as she likes Boscov’s, she said, it’s easy to stay and stay.
Oh, yes, there was one part of her job she didn’t enjoy: “Gift wrapping.” But nowadays, the courtesy desk no longer wraps gifts; the staff gives customers wrapping paper and a box so they can wrap a present themselves.
Lovecchio has been using up some vacation days, but will return to the store on May 8, for what will no doubt be a bittersweet final day.
“Already, she’s missing the place,” her daughter-in-law, Colleen Lovecchio, said.
