Bon-Ton & Mailmans: Mourning the loss of brick-and-mortar retailers

Over the past few days, many have stopped into Collage, sharing memories of my grandfather's store, Mailmans, and his longtime partner, Bon-Ton.

You've expressed your sadness to see The Bon-Ton disappear. One of my dear customers dropped this button (pictured) off, and just holding it in my hand brought back so many memories. When you walked into stores like Mailmans or The Bon-Ton you were greeted with quality products and quality service. There was an excitement and energy you felt when shopping at these stores.

In the early ’90s I watched my entire family lose their business, one by one, all of our stores closed. And I watched all the employees who we cared so deeply about lose their jobs. Both were equally painful.

People wondered why we had to close our stores. The truth was that when stores like Walmart moved into town we just couldn't compete. Of course, people wanted to save money, but what they didn't realize was they were trading those few dollars that they saved at the register on quality customer service and a great shopping experience.

More:There are lots of reasons Bon-Ton failed. One of the biggest: It wasn't best at anything.

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Slowly, that became the new normal. Millennials and today's youth don't know what it feels like to go into a store and have a true sales person help you from start to finish with a purchase. Our standards have been lowered and we don't expect much when walking into a store. Many times, you're lucky if an employee says hello. And as online shopping grew, the desire to go into stores like Mailmans and The Bon-Ton lessened.

I totally understand Christmas shopping in your PJs at 1 a.m. online. It's convenient, prices are competitive, and there is a world full of selection. But what you may not think of is that in 260 locations there will now be big empty spaces in your malls, and thousands of people losing jobs because their employer could not continue to compete with online sales. It's not just you shopping online, but it's millions of people who once went into those stores and now have taken that sale away from a brick-and-mortar store.

We should not complain when shopping centers become ghost towns because we've created it ourselves. I'm not saying you shouldn't ever shop online, because we all do it. But what I am saying is that if we want to have decent malls, cool boutiques, and culture in our towns, then we gotta change our ways a little bit. If each of us are a bit more conscious of where we are spending our money, and shopping local, whether it's a store like Collage or The Bon-Ton, please know you are investing in your community.

It hurts my heart that The Bon-Ton is closing. I spent my childhood and teen years behind the counters at Malimans, working closely with Bon-Ton employees. Some of the employees at the Queensgate store I have known for 30 or more years. There aren't many places like this anymore. And we need to be proactive so that brick-and-mortar retail doesn't become a thing of the past.

Whitney Morgan lives in Grantley.