Retailers long have struggled to attract high-quality, professional employees who treat customers with the respect they deserve. In a tight job market that pits retailers against industries with better pay and benefits, finding the right staff can be a nightmare.
Lots of stores struggled through last year’s holiday season with fewer workers than desired. With the economy showing few signs of slowing down, the same situation could present itself this winter.
Perhaps the nation’s merchants are looking in the wrong places. Instead of scouring college campuses and trying to seduce seniors, they should be recruiting among the disgruntled hordes of lawyers, accountants and bankers.
Take the case of Alexis Gabay, a sales associate in the stationery department at the Neiman Marcus store at 737 N. Michigan Ave.
Before she joined the retail world, Gabay spent 15 years as an attorney, serving in distinguished positions with the Alaska state senate, the Alaska attorney general’s office and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago.
But even though her law career was on track, Gabay felt her job satisfaction slipping away. To help fill the void, she became interested in making paper by hand. Gabay even began teaching classes in envelope making and letter writing at Paper Source, a retail store at 232 W. Chicago Ave. that specializes in unusual and high-quality stationery, wrapping paper and invitations.
That wasn’t the same as selling, of course. Gabay, 42, got a taste of that last year when she was roped into drumming up sponsors for “Cows on Parade,” the bovine public art festival that took the city by storm. “I thought if I could sell fiberglass cows sight unseen, I could sell anything,” says Gabay.
Earlier this year, she decided to chuck the law business and combine her love of paper and newfound interest in retailing. She applied for a job in Neiman’s stationery department and was hired. Gabay soon found she wasn’t alone. Other Neiman salespeople are refugees from the world of high finance.
It’s been two months now, and Gabay says she couldn’t be happier. “As Oprah says, `If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.'”
Love is one thing, and money is another. Gabay’s income is now strictly dependent on the sales commissions she generates. Her health insurance coverage won’t kick in for another month.
So far, she is able to pay her bills and seems unconcerned that her salary might not equal its previous level. “Money isn’t everything. That’s not an issue,” she says. “I really like working with people and being out in the public.”
And they say you can’t find good help these days.
Downer: Chief Executive David Dyer is making some big changes at Lands’ End Corp., the Dodgeville, Wis.-based casual apparel cataloger he has headed for 20 months. He also is making some small changes, such as being slightly more forthcoming with Wall Street about the company’s outlook for sales and profit.
Still, keeping investors in the loop can be painful, especially when the news isn’t good. Lands’ End stock took another beating Thursday, losing more than 12 percent of its value, after the company modestly trimmed its outlook for fiscal 2001’s first half and full year.
Because of weaker-than-expected sales performances by its specialty catalogs, most noticeably its Kids book, Lands’ End said it expects first-half sales to be flat rather than to increase by low single-digits. For the year, sales are now expected to rise only 6 percent, pacing a 6 percent increase in catalog pages, instead of outpacing it.
Still, Lands’ End is sticking by its prediction that profit margins in 2001 will improve by about 2.3 percent. And second-quarter earnings are still on track to exceed last year’s numbers as new, trendier products continue to win acceptance with the company’s conservative customer base.
The market spanking may have seemed out of proportion to the misstep. But this is the second time in a row that Lands’ End has trimmed its outlook for 2001. Double dips are fine for ice cream, but investors prefer their bad news in single servings.
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Contact Susan Chandler at [email protected].