Archived Hope for the industry?

[trowa03]

http://business.time.com/2012/06/18...ofit-by-investing-in-employees/#ixzz235qrEi2l

TL : DR = Retail that invest in it's employees is out preforming those that don't.

 

[TiedAndDropped]

One in six items of merchandise was out of place at Borders? Doesn't bode well for Target. In some parts of my store I bet one of three items is wrong. It drives me nuts. Today the Kuerig aisle had almost none of the coffee machines on the bottom two shelves in the right place. How hard is it to stock 12 or 14 DPCIs of large items correctly?

 

[commiecorvus]

Full-time employees at Trader Joe’s earn $40,000 to $60,000 a year?
Too bad the closest one is about 30 miles away.

 

[Softlines Owns My Soul]

There's a mega grocery store in the upstate NY area that is expanding and is standing up to Walmart in small towns, while simultaneously offering low prices AND treating their employees well. The key? They're a private company, so unlike Target and Walmart they're not beholden to the shareholders and thus will not nickel and dime them at every corner to give their shareholders a few extra bucks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wegmans

Sure, they can't expand as quickly as Target or Walmart because they don't have the capital that you gain through going public, but they understand it's not entirely about that. They're creating a niche through their excellent service to their customers AND employees. They put in, and they get it back and then some because when I lived upstate I was one of many who loved Wegmans and refused to shop Walmart based on the above. Brand loyalty.

 

[ISMQUEEN]

WEGMANS are awesome!!!!!! they are mainly in the northeast but do go as far down as central virginia!

 

[cart man]

https://www.change.org/petitions/target-higher-pay-for-cart-attendants

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I love wegmans! Great cafe & produce. It is a little pricey, but worth it.
We have one across from another store in our district.

 

[daninnj]

Yeah Wegmans is awesome. They also are non union and pay their employees well.

 

[insiteful1]

There are some companies doing it right! Wegmans, Trader Joes, and QT have always been on the list. Any of you from Texas, know that HEB/Central Market is also on that list.

 

[OyeShopgirl]

With any kind of luck, maybe a lot of the corporate chain stores will take a page from that...don't know if or when that will happen, especially when so very, very of our multimillion/multibillion dollar (inter)national business are so tied up in what seems to be more or less " The Walmart Model"...

Ah, shareholders. Can't live with 'em, can't live without...oh, wait! You CAN...

IMHO, once a company gets rather sizeable and goes public, all these expectations set in and they try to scramble around pleasing all of the people all of the time...guess who gets lost in THAT shuffle?

That is one thing I do not miss about a certain ancient video chain that I used to work for that rhymed with LackLuster Video: after awhile, anyone who was dissatisfied, angry, or otherwise displeased about ANYTHING would get all puffed up and get their forehead veins throbbing, and start hectoring me about how they were a shareholder and they paid my wages (! ) and made the business what it was and bla bla bla...I would always wonder, if they made the business what it was and they were unhappy, shouldn't they go home and yell into the mirror? The really good ones would ask me what I was going to do when they won their class-action lawsuit and LackLuster was driven out of business. My usual reply was to get my resume together and apply at a video chain that rhymed with Bollywood. 🙂

Happy New Year, EVERYONE