Soo, I was the one who posted the ridiculous questions before about my confusion regarding fixtures & well.. everything @ B+N. Since that post, I have relocated to a different state. This B+N is a lot smaller in size-yet in a much higher populated area, so I know their sales + numbers or whatever are better.
I have a suspicion they will assume I remember, or that I even was trained in, EVERYTHING- so the adventure begins again :)
Before someone shoots me in the face on here, I'm gonna throw out another question (that's among millions). I totally forgot what the symbol is on the PDT when it marks the promo, or corporate listing for a title- LSL is the "local store listing," or whatever. Is it just when it says PL to the RIGHT of a title? WOW i wish they had guides & shit online for this stuff. I'd be a pro. OK Maybe not a pro. Who cares.
ANYWAYS, if anyone wants to just throw out some random knowledge they have/ feel like sharing some fond memories involving PDTS, I say shoot, that would be just plain awesome! :)
So, I am currently traveling, and stopped (as is custom in my family) at the local Barnes and Noble. Well, I first noticed that something was amiss when I saw the bright signs in the window proclaiming "clearance sale" at 50%. I know, of course, that we're all concluding our Fall Clearance sale now at 75%, but this is a store wide sale.
Anyways, so upon entering the store, I saw a massive number of clearance tables (complete with red boxes), endcaps, barges, and gondolas. Given that this store always has a giant selection of bargain items, more so than any other BN I have seen, I thought that this was perhaps a district clearance sale or something.
Not so. As I walked through the store, I saw the sad fate of this BN, which I have visited since my childhood. The Children's section was nearly abandoned, with only the porch and a few CGWs remaining with any merchandise. The Gift department consisted of a few tables of journals and bookmarks, marked to 50%. Row after row of bays were empty, their shelves dismanteled. Everything was being condensed, (at an alarming rate, because I watched sections shrinking and being moved forward and to the interior.
I had hoped to find Twilight (I know , I know, I should have read it by now) but it was no longer in stock.
My family remarked, and I agree, that it was creepy seeing the old Barnes and Noble giving its last hurrah, as it were, a giant clearanace sale, a giant moving of stock, with empty shelves and a bare childrens department.
Yeah, I know, it is good for the booksellers there, as they are moving to a new and much improved store. But I cant shake the nagging feeling of loss for a familiar store, the friendly quorum of storybook characters proclaiming "BN Junior" and lining the stage, and seeing nothing where I used to find everything.
So, what's the cafe tip policy in your stores? I have witnessed my SM taking tips from us, especially when it's busy and all we have time for is to toss them in a cup behind the register, and I don't think it's right at all... especially considering the recent Starbucks thing with a lawsuit involved.
I was wondering how strict everyone here was with allowing people from our affiliated stores to get the employee discount. Yesterday I had someone come in from Game Stop and ask for the discount. I asked him for a pay stub and ID, and he said he didn't have his stub. I apologized and said I couldn't give him the discount without it. He told me the last time he came in, no one had asked to see his pay stub. I told him there was nothing more I could personally do and I called a manager, who said the same thing. For the 9th time, he told us no one asked for it last time. Sorry pal, I'm not risking getting in trouble to bend the rules for you without a manager's authorization.
So do you all ask for the pay stub? Is that strictly enforced in your store?
Hi! So this is my first post and I wanted to talk about those nutty mahoneys, local authors.
I just got promoted to CRM a month ago and so I'm having to follow through on all the plans that were made before I got there. This included hosting a writer's workshop that had been going on with no success all summer. Locally we have a published author who is also a literary agent and the previous CRM invited him to come talk at the last workshop. He really is a nice guy, and he's pretty successful. Larry McMurty blurbed his book, so way to go local guy! I got a hold of him ASAP and told him, look - I doubt anyone's gunna come. I'm not going to demand that you come. If you do come, and no one shows, I'll buy you a cup of coffee and send you on your merry way. Which was exactly how I thought it would go down. Alas.
A crap ton of "authors" showed up to share the stories they are writing. Good god. I can't contain myself around stupid. When the first guy starting talking about his mystery novel about a homeless detective, I immediately starting shooting the idea down - how does he get hired, does he have a cell phone, how can he afford to advertise if he can't afford a home?! So I removed myself from the discussion until it was over.
I'm sure you all have local authors harassing you to carry their POD and non-returnable books - we have a ton of wacky religious nuts here in the bible belt. What crazy local authors have you all come across?
Just kind of a quick survey, because I'm curious.
What are your store hours?
I think we're one of few stores in our district that are open 9am - 11pm every day. Yes, even Sundays. It pretty much sucks having to keep those hours, so I'm wondering if it's the same anywhere else.
So about two weeks ago, we were told by our management that they were handed down a new policy that non-managers could no longer ring up employee sales. From now on, if an employee wants to purchase ANY non-cafe item (though we'll see how long before that changes)...we have to get a manager to ring it up for us. Music and Receiving managers don't count...it has to be a manager or assistant manager.
And just this past week, we were informed of a new policy: non-managers can no longer order items for employees. Not only can we no longer order our own books, we can't get another employee to do it. Again, we need a manager or assistant manager to do it for us. ORDER A BOOK. And, if we order a book, we MUST purchase it within one week. I don't know what the "or else" would be there, but that's what we were told: Only management can special order books for any employees, and the employee MUST purchase the book inside of one week.
Is this widespread? I'm PRETTY sure our fearless leaders told us it was a district thing, not a company thing, but is it like this anywhere else? It sounds ridiculous...with the holiday season coming up, managers aren't going to be able to get anything done with employees constantly needing them to order in presents or purchase items for gifts. I assume it's going to be a mess.
I wonder how long it will be before we told we can no longer do our jobs...we have to go get a manager to do our jobs for us.
Does anyone else here work in a store where their music department was converted into a DVD department with very limited music selections?
How did your customers react? How did the employees react?
Have your sales been impacted? For better or worse?
EDIT: Thanks for the replies, guys, but I'm not sure I'm making myself clear enough. I'm working in one of only 10 stores that corporate pulled almost 7,000 music titles from in favor of turning the whole department into a DVD store with only one wall set up with music. I know corporate has been expanding the DVD side of things in all stores for quite a while now, but this was different. This was a crew coming out from NY to close our department down for a week while they tore everything apart and then built it back up again. Before this all happened, our sales were 48% CD and 52% DVD. We've been having major loss in sales and lots of angry customers. On the flip side of that, some customers are ecstatic. We're basically just working now to build up a completely different customer base. I was wondering if anyone else here was dealing with the same thing.
bouncy
curious
sleepy