The Facade of American Luxury Retail

After meeting a friend for lunch, I walked him to an interview that he had along upper Madison Avenue.  We admired the gorgeous Christmastime store windows!  You can tell that companies lavish creativity and resources on them!

Then we got to the store where his interview was.  The store sells silverware.  Thus, other than their silverware, they employed a "bare minimum" of cheap-looking decorations.

I told him not to take the job.  Just looking at the window gave my trained eye all the telltale warnings of a cheap/disorganized company.  
     My friend scoffed, saying that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover.  I pointed out how uncaring their main window was.  For luxurious upper Madison Avenue!  Amongst the Upper East Side's richest shoppers and tourists!  
     Plastic Christmas balls--from the Dollar Store--dumped on the floor.  A table that looks like it belongs in an Arts & Crafts class (and it has NO classiness).  3 potted firs--still in their plastic pots, merely plopped on the table.  A rectangle of styrofoam, that looks like it used to be part of a packing crate.  And someone haphazardly put random tableware out.  In addition, a woman was using fishing wire to hang more plastic Christmas balls from the ceiling.  So cheaply crappy!

     Nonetheless, I wished my friend well.  He aced the interview.  They hired him the next day.  He showed me his training manual, which cited Publicity about the company...
     "For nearly two centuries, ___ has upheld its position as the formost leader in the art of luxury.  An enduring symbol of refinement, it serves as a showcase for craftsmanship.  With locations in more than 70 countries, it commands a proud heritage, uniting time-tested excellence with creativity that is always in step with modern trends.  Throughout its long and illustrious history, it has been the forefront of the decorative arts by producing designer pieces.  It has worked with some of the most extraordinary artists of their times.  Through special orders from all over the world, it satisfies the most unusual requests of the greatest hotels, embassies, palaces, homes and institutions.
     Like a future fashion house, it celebrates the tradition of custom goods, restoring pieces.  The workshops carry on a tradition, some thousands of years old.  It's unparalleled know-how enchants thousands of satisfied customers."

     Barely a month later, the gossip reached my ears.  My friend was quite unhappy.  I had been right, sizing up the stingy company (with a luxury facade).  

     The store didn't have a kitchen area.  Not even a microwave or coffeemaker.  There were no price tags on merchandise!  The company didn't print a catalog (they called it "going green").  The employee price books had errors and typos!  No business cards came for my friend, because the Printer Shop hadn't been paid in months.  All transactions, transfers, audits and orders were done on old-fashioned paper.  So much paperwork!  Like a 1940s small Mom & Pop business.  The global company hasn't invested in new computers.  They use an operating system created in 1982.  Even the IT Help Desk jokes about getting guys out of retirement to answer calls from this company.  The store doesn't even have a cash register!  They use a metal cash box with a key!  

     Due to the lack or corporate response/respect/ organization, the store has gone through 5 managers in 2 years!  3 quit.  The Vice President of stores in North America has held her job for 14 years (riding up on the coattails of the President of North America).  She hired her friend--an alcoholic woman--to manager the store.  When, she didn't listen to the complaints of the salespeople, the salespeople quit.  Then, the VP hired a manager who COULD NOT operate a computer... or even email!
     A $200,000 remodel of the boutique occurred, but it was purely cosmetic and didn't fix any shortcomings or even upgrade the lavatories.  Instead, it squandered funds on carpets, paint, and lights... ignoring the outdated computers and shabby counter space (yet again).  The store hadn't even paid for itself, since it was furnished two years ago.  In fact, the company ignored the announced termination of the lease at its previous location.  During a last-minute panic, merchandise had to be stored for several days in a rented truck (which got robbed) while they scampered around to find this spot.  Of course, the company was offered a nicer location but chose the cheapest one.  

     The store has no heat nor insulation between the cracks of the front doors.  Staff was told to repaint the "used" file cabinets.  The store lacks gift-wrapping space.  There's hardly enough stockroom space, forcing staff for to rush/squeeze through.  

     During its remodel--and despite several people at the midtown Corporate Office being involved--they accidentally carpeted over the floor electric outlets.  Thus, no computers can be installed in half of the store... during the Holiday Season rush.  Also during that renovation, the electrician failed to illuminate a wall of showcases... before the new wall was finished.  Despite a hired foreman being there, and despite the Corporate Special Operations guy being there... such a major blunder occurred.  After the work was completed, the store manager noticed the error.  Instead of incurring any more work/cost, Corporate decided to ignore the showcases and merely light them with angled ceiling lights.  !!!  Now, $200,000 of merchandise sits on dim shelves, shadowed by anyone standing in front of them.  Ridiculous.  Ignorant.  
     During the renovation, the store was closed for 1.5 weeks.  During that time, they illegally didn't pay the staff "task pay". Normally, a corporate entity would "adjust down" a month's goal, to accommodate time that a store is closed for business. To avoid paying commission, this company kept the goal at full strength.  Nobody reached their sales goal.  Then, the company dumped the unreached amount onto a following month!  To make that month harder to reach.  But, they didn't pick the next month in the calendar.  They dumped the amount on top of December's already-high goal (perhaps hoping to keep commission bonuses out of reach during that prime time).  That's unheard of!  
     Gossip complaints from the store in Boston announce that the company didn't pay its electric bill, so the power was shut off!... twice!  Do you know how many delinquent days that must've been?  Why weren't urgent bills paid?  Because the Accounts Payable woman at Corporate ignores everything when her 4pm quitting time arrives, and spends most of her time shopping online (getting her personal things shipped to the office for the other girls to swoon over).

     That might explain why the company hasn't reimbursed the store's Petty Cash for 4 months!  My friend awaits $40 that she used to buy wine for a last-minute Book Signing Event at the store.  

     Despite the image it projects to customers, the company uses the cheapest repair services in the city, while upping price.  The poorly done repairs are losing clientele for the company.  But nobody seems to care.  Clients complain online that nobody even answers the Customer Service phones.  Corporate hired a 24yr old blonde to be the Director of Bridal Registries.  A 26 yr old blonde was hired as the Director of Visual.  A 28 yr old gay man is the Operations/Special Projects Director.  A 66 yr old woman, who cannot make coherent sentences, is the Marketing Director.  At the store's last event (at someone's country club), she arrived and asked to borrow some spare clothes!!  (She forgot her clothes, makeup and shoes on her desk).  
     There is no Employee Training manual.  There is no In-Store Procedure manual.  Corporate management simply hasn't bothered to create either.  That's unheard of, too!  My friend took pictures of how cruddy the water cooler was!  Its filter hadn't been changed in forever!  Slime and algae coated the inside of the employee water cooler.  To complete the ugly image, the store's restroom toilet seat remained broken for 4 months!  Such negligence.

     Contrary to how cheap they are at store-level, the Corporate staff squanders monies on their expenses: events at hotels, in the Hamptons, and at Brooklyn artist studios.  They use pricey couriers for ever little thing, even to bring an iPad that a blonde intern didn't want to carry from the store to Corporate.  The president spent $1,500 for workmen and a truck to bring a mirrored table from the store to his office.  Not liking it after all, he hired them again to bring it back to the store.  Meanwhile, he had a similar table already at the office.  Corporate staff summon Uber cars for everything.  They fly execs around country, enjoying dinners and store parties with cute waiters.   

     Speaking of waiters, this company provides items to the St. Regis Hotel.  Below are the gloves used by the hotel staff.  Notice the appropriate size, the monogram and the button.  They are well-made, with attention to detail.  True "first class".  On the left is this company's gloves: cheap-looking, one-size-fits-all.  "Wannabe like first class".  Another telltale sign of uncaring "cutting corners".

For a similar story, 
http://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-book-by-its-cover.html