Catherine

Sam’s assistant manager by day is a dancing fanatic by night and weekend. She can do all the steps from ballroom to western swing to hip-hop and sometimes the sales platform is the perfect impromptu spot. She parted with 18” of signature blonde hair and now sports “only” shoulder length tresses. Coco and Chloe, her balls-of-fluff Pekinese/shitzu pups, are always ready to cuddle or ride along to deliver flowers or balloons for Fancies Floral, her mom and sister’s floral company.

Katie

Our girl Friday is an eager-beaver teenager with a million-dollar smile and work ethic that belies her age. Finishing high school this spring is uppermost on her agenda. Katie’s been an astute Sam shopper since she was about six years old. A lakeside cabin vacation and the Mall of America were summer highlights. Younger siblings, Pro and Sokha, adore their Big Sister just like we do. Did we mention she keeps up on makeup and skin-care tips by assisting a Mary Kay director and shares those tips and trends with us?

Vonis

Twin granddaughters are eagerly anticipated for this first-time grandma. Grandchildren, a cockatiel and sheltie what more could a woman need? Number crunching as a finance officer for South Dakota’s legislative audit department for over 30 years was perfect practice for Sam’s bookkeeping and financial reporting. As co-owner of a 30-foot pontoon boat with sundeck camping enclosure, Vonis and her pup, Sadie, have weekends covered. It’s the giant boat with the pretty blue enclosure and the pup barking at the waves.

Tara

Don’t be blinded by the glare from her left hand--it’s official she’s engaged and the date’s next summer. Eleven years after she started as a “go-fer” for Sam, she’s the store manager and resident expert handling every eventuality. She knows most consignors and many customers by name—their husbands and children too. Please none of those North Dakota jokes, as that’s her beloved home state. She’s the proud auntie of toddler, Drew. The black on tattoos hurts like crazy and the aftermath of belly-button rings is worse than the piercing itself.

Janis

A grandbaby is arriving soon and that’s gotta be better than grand-dogs she insists. Running a thrift store, showed her there was a niche market if someone separated the “chaff from the wheat” so shoppers didn’t have to look through “crap” to find something worthwhile. Erecting displays on every wall turns the inventory over quickly. Weekdays, Jan’s planning promos or newsletters or websites. As for weekends, cell phones just don’t work on the floating getaway at Pactola Reservoir nestled in the pines of the Black Hills.

Sofia

This brunette wisp of a teenager made the Cobbler Coeds, dance team of the state’s largest high school. Five a.m. practices and weekend performances may cut into her schedule at Sam’s, but you “go, girl!” Creating displays, ringing up sales and processing inventory come easy to her so she really boosts productivity. She’s a worker and secretly, we wonder how we’ll manage. When she’s not studying for a big test, this honor roll student is likely scoping out the latest fashions and learning dance steps.

Maurice

He’s our resident handyman—soldering display cases, welding racks, fixing water leaks, building platforms, raising bars and then lowering them the next week, bringing us wide boards for shelves then cutting them narrower, then getting us wider ones again and most importantly driving the boat. An avid SCUBA diver at Pactola, he’s not a staff member in the strictest sense. We really don’t pay him or anything--chocolate bars and pizza have worked so far.