A face that has been familiar to customers across the history of Big W North Albury is celebrating the store's 41st anniversary this week.
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Wanda Ziebell began working at the store as a 27-year-old, soon after it opened in 1979.
"I started as a snack bar assistant, selling chips and cakes, and cleaning tables," she said.
"Then I went to management, stayed in that for about 30 years, and then I went to the door, which I absolutely loved.
"I knew it was time to finish; I wanted to see 40 years out."
Mrs Ziebell retired in December, as the store's longest-standing employee.
"[When I started] everything we did was paper, you walked around counting stock, and wrote it down," she said.
"You have to get in there, learn the new technology, and get on with it.
"Some people like to stay the same, but I think going forward is the best thing to do.
"I think the biggest change for me was seeing the store evolve and change with the times.
"There were three major refurbishments and layout changes over the 40 years."
The department store has weathered many storms - of the literal and figurative kind - since its beginning in Albury, when people talked about going to "Big Dub" rather than the "Lavington Shopping Centre".
The Lavington store's future was confirmed positively last year when 30 stores were flagged for closure, and now COVID-19 has hit the entire retail sector.
But Mrs Ziebell said it was the team's commitment to its community that always shone through.
"Bushfires were always hard," she said.
"We are like one big family.
"We have regular customers who visit every day just to say hello, and when they are missing for a few days, the store enquires as to the customers' welfare in some cases.
"[There is] our regular customer John who is an elderly gentleman, who completes a morning walk of the store speaking to every staff member, asking if we are keeping busy and how trade is.
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"During COVID we made sure John had his supply of hand sanitiser and toilet roll, which he couldn't source."
Mrs Ziebell's love for Big W has been shared across oceans; she sends clothes to extended family in Poland, where her parents emigrated from to end up at Bonegilla, via Melbourne and Uranquinty.
"I come back in all the time," she said.
The now-Jindera resident's face continues to smile at customers from the store's wall, alongside other long-standing staff who continue on today.