Yep, yet another job of mine has gone under. First, The Sharper Image and now Circuit City. I still miss Sharper Image. I had it really good there and if they hadn't bankrupted I would still be there. I will miss the people I work with at CCity, but I won't miss the job. I have no benefits, only part-time hours, and it's not as inviting an environment as Sharper Image was. However, here in our store, there is a lot "family". For those of my non-gay readers, "family" is code for gay. We had some of them over last night for our soup potluck. It went really well.
So I've been reading a lot of articles and blogs about Circuit City's liquidation deals. As I have managed a store going through liquidation, I have more experience then those writers and bloggers. So here's the lowdown: Sales start at 10% off and will get larger incrementally. So yeah, 10% is not a great deal! It barely pays for sales tax. But patience! If we could all wait 2-3 weeks before purchasing stuff we could probably get 50% off. I guess most customers have no experience with liquidation either. I have customers asking me all the time, "so when do the good deals start?"
It doesn't help that the liquidators haven't even shown up at our store yet. They should have giant signs listing the percentage off. The registers should show the current discount as well. Right now the Customer Service Associates, Supervisors, and Managers are the only people who can do the price change. The rest of us associates just stand around and answer questions or point people towards products. I hear that come tomorrow the prices will be in the registers. So I'll finally be able to ring people up and lessen the work load of my associates.
So finding good prices at Circuit City or any other liquidating store will always be a gamble. You can wait till the discounts are worth it and risk the product you want not being there, or you can buy at the micro-discount of 10-20% and be sure to get what you want. As for the claims that liquidators raise the prices before they "discount", that may be true, but not at Circuit City or Sharper Image. If they wanted to do that, they'd have to remove and replace tens of thousands of price tags. Neither they nor we have time for that.
So, I have at least 60 days of pay. I using that time to find myself a job. If you know of any jobs available, I have retail and retail management experience. I can certainly give you my resume.
Showing posts with label liquidation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liquidation. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, April 25, 2008
Glad It's Over!
Wow! What a month! I am happy April is nearly over. On the first of the month I was made the acting manager of The Sharper Image. I had very little time to learn all the aspects of my new position. I knew I could handle the responsibilities, but I think I underestimated all that I would need to do. I needed to hire all new associates and train them how to run the store. Luckily I had several friends who needed part time jobs. One position was filled by my ad in craigslist. They were all hard workers and fast learners.
Of course there were the angry customers, that never changes. I only had to have one couple escorted out of the mall. Only... They would get angry because we were unable to take their returns. Once the liquidators bought our store, we became theirs and followed their policies. Their policy includes no returns. So our customers only needed to contact an 800 number and Sharper Image customer service would send out a pre-paid box to take the unit back. I think that's really generous on their half. But that wasn't good enough for some customers. Luckily I had lots of experience with this before becoming the manager. I do my best to help every customer but I know when to put my foot down.
Our store was planned to be open anywhere from four to twelve weeks. Two weeks into the closure, they let us know that we would be closing in two weeks. I can't say that I was surprised. Compared to the other stores closing in our district, we weren't doing very well. Our sales were down. I think first of all, our mall being under construction but a large damper on our sales. Trolley Square just doesn't have the traffic in it our store needs. Second, no offense but Utahans are cheapskates. 40% isn't good enough for them. They want 80-90% off. The problem was, because of our short four weeks open, the sales weren't going to get that good. But tell that to customers and they just think you're holding out. Ah well!
I thought I was handling everything pretty well. I was learning the ropes quickly and responsibly. I figured that because we wouldn't be open so long I'd not train a new Senior Sales in order to close and open the store. It would be difficult but I could handle the three weeks at nine hours a day without any days off. Well, I am still alive.
Even though I was on top of the things, the stress was killing me. During the three week period I had four migraines! I normally have about one a year, sometimes less. I'm so thankful that after my second migraine, I found some medicine that stopped the beast dead in its tracks. Hallelujah! Why didn't I know about this back when I started getting them in junior high school? I could have been without pain and discomfort and annoyance for years! But I have it now, phew! I was getting afraid too. I figured the migraines were caused by stress, but I'd never had them so often. I thought it might be something I'd have to continue to deal with. Luckily (knock on wood) they seem to have dissipated.
Every day of the three weeks was identical to the last. It was long, it was hard, and it was stressful. My last day, Aaron and I both pulled 12 hour shifts. The last hours seemed to drag on. Our liquidation representative had this small thing, or that last thing he needed done. And he didn't do anything to help get it done. Grrrr!
But! All of that is behind me. I made a lot of money, I earned a lot of experience, and I am so glad it is done. If I needed to, would I do it again? Probably yes. But I would make a lot of changes... and I wouldn't do it for a long time!
Now I'm giving myself a small vacation before I head back to work. The Sharper Image is dead in Utah, but I hope to have a job at Brookstone very soon. I'm sorry I fell off the planet during that time, but I hope you all understand. But Scott is back and better for it!
Of course there were the angry customers, that never changes. I only had to have one couple escorted out of the mall. Only... They would get angry because we were unable to take their returns. Once the liquidators bought our store, we became theirs and followed their policies. Their policy includes no returns. So our customers only needed to contact an 800 number and Sharper Image customer service would send out a pre-paid box to take the unit back. I think that's really generous on their half. But that wasn't good enough for some customers. Luckily I had lots of experience with this before becoming the manager. I do my best to help every customer but I know when to put my foot down.
Our store was planned to be open anywhere from four to twelve weeks. Two weeks into the closure, they let us know that we would be closing in two weeks. I can't say that I was surprised. Compared to the other stores closing in our district, we weren't doing very well. Our sales were down. I think first of all, our mall being under construction but a large damper on our sales. Trolley Square just doesn't have the traffic in it our store needs. Second, no offense but Utahans are cheapskates. 40% isn't good enough for them. They want 80-90% off. The problem was, because of our short four weeks open, the sales weren't going to get that good. But tell that to customers and they just think you're holding out. Ah well!
I thought I was handling everything pretty well. I was learning the ropes quickly and responsibly. I figured that because we wouldn't be open so long I'd not train a new Senior Sales in order to close and open the store. It would be difficult but I could handle the three weeks at nine hours a day without any days off. Well, I am still alive.
Even though I was on top of the things, the stress was killing me. During the three week period I had four migraines! I normally have about one a year, sometimes less. I'm so thankful that after my second migraine, I found some medicine that stopped the beast dead in its tracks. Hallelujah! Why didn't I know about this back when I started getting them in junior high school? I could have been without pain and discomfort and annoyance for years! But I have it now, phew! I was getting afraid too. I figured the migraines were caused by stress, but I'd never had them so often. I thought it might be something I'd have to continue to deal with. Luckily (knock on wood) they seem to have dissipated.
Every day of the three weeks was identical to the last. It was long, it was hard, and it was stressful. My last day, Aaron and I both pulled 12 hour shifts. The last hours seemed to drag on. Our liquidation representative had this small thing, or that last thing he needed done. And he didn't do anything to help get it done. Grrrr!
But! All of that is behind me. I made a lot of money, I earned a lot of experience, and I am so glad it is done. If I needed to, would I do it again? Probably yes. But I would make a lot of changes... and I wouldn't do it for a long time!
Now I'm giving myself a small vacation before I head back to work. The Sharper Image is dead in Utah, but I hope to have a job at Brookstone very soon. I'm sorry I fell off the planet during that time, but I hope you all understand. But Scott is back and better for it!
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