Moss celebrates 30th at Hallmark
Moss, store manager for 22 years, has worked with three owners, dealt with COVID-19 and still is going strong as she approaches her 30th anniversary at this store.
Patrons will be able to congratulate her during an anniversary party from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, April 18, at the store, 11527 Kingston Pike, in Village Green shopping center.
“It’s never felt like work to me,” Moss said, reflecting on the years with Hallmark with tears starting to glaze her royal blue eyes. “It’s always just been an extension of my life.
“And, I told her we always have fun,” said store staff member Judy Jutze, who has been with the store for 22 years. “We’re always laughing.”
“I love the customers,” Moss said. “The customers have become my friends. The employees are my friends, my family.
“It’s always felt like home to me, from the beginning, when I started here, and it’s the place that brings me the most peace,” she added.
“She cares about it,” store merchandise buyer Rene Mackley said of Moss and Hallmark. “She cares about the customers and she cares about the employees.”
“The customers all know her when they walk in, ”Jutze said.
“She’s sweet to know about (the customers’) families,” Mackley said of Moss. “The husbands and wives will come in shopping for anniversary cards at different times.
“April has been a good mentor to all the college girls who have worked here,” she added. “She encourages them in school, and she’s been a good help to them.
“She’s a generous person,” Jutze said of Moss. “For our birthdays, she gets us something, for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas. She’s always thinking of us. And, the gift is something she thought of, personal.”
“Which is what Hallmark’s all about,” Mackley said. “Hallmark is a company based on sentiments, and that’s really who April is. She’s sentimental and she cares about people. That’s why it has worked all these years.
“And that’s why, when you come here, you stay,” Jutze said.
“She takes pride in the store, like it’s her house,” Mackley said. “She stays after work to straighten and vacuum. She always wants everything to be perfect.”
Moss started with the store, when it was Lissa’s Hallmark, when she was hired in April 1995.
“I was actually 15,” she recalled. “I couldn’t even drive to the interview. My grandfather came up and rode with me because I didn’t have a driver’s license.
“The original owner actually didn’t want to hire me,” Moss added. “She thought I was too young. I never worked anywhere before. (But) the ladies who worked here convinced her that it would be a good idea to hire me, that I would be a good fit.
“And, here I am, 30 years later. I outstayed them — the original owners.”
Moss was promoted to assistant manager of the store in 1997. She left in 1997 but returned as full-time store manager in 2003.
“(The owners) called me and said, ‘I want you back,’” she recalled and laughed.
The original owners sold the business in 2011, and then it became Linda’s Hallmark, which was sold in 2023. Then it became Katy’s Hallmark.
“Each owner has taught me something different about the business, but getting used to the way a new owner likes to do things or their policies, that’s been a little bit challenging from owner to owner,” Moss said. “All three owners have been in the business for a very long time, but each has a different way they like to do business.
“And COVID taught me that I did not need to retire early.”
