Retirees setting a great example: Retailers find retirees returning to workforce increasingly valuable

Taissa Klaus believes involvement is the key to staying young. Having left a longtime corporate career as a highly successful creative director, she decided she wasn’t ready to retire when she reached her late 50s.

So at the age of 60, she decided to open a small store in the Bloor West Village area of Toronto. “Now I’m 64 but really going on 44,” she says. “It’s so important to be active.”

She adds that while the financial rewards are not up to what she earned in the corporate world, “As long as there’s a bit left for me, I’m fine.” Klaus draws on “that little bit” to indulge in what she loves most — travelling to Paris and New York to see the latest collections. “I’m combining business with pleasure. That’s another aspect of retail I like.”

Pace says for many associates, the flexibility is a big draw. “Some older associates actually like working weekends,” Pace says. “One told me he preferred to golf during the week because the fees were cheaper. We also offer discretionary leave policies if they want to take off for the winter months.”

For Klaus, age is never going to slow down her desire to work. “I don’t intend to retire. As long as I’m healthy, I’m going to go on and on and on — until they say I can’t.”

McCarthy puts it more succinctly: “It ain’t time for the rocking chair yet.”

© Montreal Gazette

Keywords: seniors, work