I feel like we were given a reprieve by the new owner until after the holiday season not out of the goodness of their hearts, but because they wanted to see how we do and then decide which stores to close and which to keep.
Which means we might be looking at a closing announcement as soon as January. Some reprieve...
To be fair, the stores have always looked a little rough post-Christmas, and they always have a 50%/clearance sale post-Christmas (in particular: calendars, holiday greeting cards, gift wrap, kids Christmas books, various bargain, certain coffee table trade hardcover books, lots of gift items, etc). Even in slightly healthier times. (I worked there for 17 years throughout the 2000s.)
Now, if you see stuff tagged with white dot (not red dot) stickers, that's indeed a store closing clearance sale. And there will be window banners stating that the store is closing on a posted date thank you shopping these last __ years blah blah blah.
I can already tell the stores are getting ready to close. Lots of shelf space is being condensed, staff just does not care anymore. Also, nothing new is being ordered. Plus they are starting the sales already. As you know they have a 50% off sale on thousands of items going on right now. The time is coming. Their time to close is coming closer and closer.
So? where are the store closings?
Hopefully 2020 will be the year BArnes folds for good !
Get out now & be smart, or get fired and it’s no one’s fault but yours !
I’ll be laughing my butt off.
They will gut the company and sell the debt within two years. Daunt doesnt seem to understand that a turnaround in the US market is not going to be the same as Waterstones. Hes still basically transposing the Waterstones method onto BN and it isn't working. If you are currently in a store larger than 17000 sq ft, find out when your lease is up. Thats when your store is closing, either permanently or to renovate down to an acceptable size. In the interim, you wont be placed at another store. Cuts to hours are coming. Part timers will find they dont have hours, redundant full timers (ASM, kids leads) will be let go. Your store is now competing with every other BN store for survival and your company is fighting a war with Amazon that it cannot win. Daunt is too quaint and disingenuous about his motives to turn this around and Elliott Management is notoriously ruthless. Good luck.
While I am hearing the beginnings of some positive changes - booksellers can wear jeans/trainers, the hot garbage data-collection scam and primary employee stressor that is the Membership program is starting to be de-emphasized, etc - the point remains that hedge funds are evil incarnate and if they don't see a positive financial return on their purchase they will tear apart the company for whatever they can get for it. Cynic that I am, I think that's what's gonna happen in spite of Daunt's best cheery efforts.
"How it worked under the old owners was this: store's lease is up. If a deal can't be reached with the landlord or sales are just so bad it's not worth it, the store will close on a set date."
Well said, and as I recall, totally true. BN never closed a store until the lease was over, at least in the old days. I assume they did this since, as they were a public company, they didn't want it getting around the Street saying that they were breaking leases with landlords, as this could negatively effect the stock price or scare away the money guys they needed to lend them cash.
Now that they are owned by a hedge fund–which probably means the new owners don't care a lot about literature and so forth–I have no idea if this will continue as a normal practice. If it's sheer dollars and cents, they may well break leases with abandon, and take what comes from the following lawsuits. If they plan on gutting the company for its breakup value, I honestly don't know what that value is; as most (if not all) locations are leased, there's not much real estate value, particularly since B&M retail isn't exactly thriving.
The best of luck for those still at BN. Those of us who have moved on since Black Monday (in my case, for a better and less stressful job) have been telling you to jump ship for quite some time now. Hopefully, those still manning the ramparts will realize the cause is lost.
I no longer shop there. Have NO RESPECT for the company. Have NO RESPECT for anyone who would work there after their peers were fired for being career employees.
They kept you through Christmas.
You KNOW your job future is unstable.
If you wait for them to kick you out , no job, no severance pay, don’t expect sympathy.
You sat back and watched it happen to your coworkers . Your time is COMING.
It was a slow holiday season. Now we’ve cut so far back on payroll and hours, we’re back to horrible Cust service because there’s no one to help them.
That’s how we’ve repaid customers for remaining with us !
And the company will be scratching their heads why business is slow, AGAIN.
“ . Who knows with the new owners. They may just kick everyone out and hire a third-party company to pack up the store. And I wouldn't count on severance anymore.”
If you could talk to other stores they’ve done this to- little notice, you’re right about the third party, and you’re right. NO SEVERANCE.
How it worked under the old owners was this: store's lease is up. If a deal can't be reached with the landlord or sales are just so bad it's not worth it, the store will close on a set date. Store management is told a few months in advance, who then inform the rest of the booksellers. Booksellers are given the option of taking a severance package, or applying at another store (yes, you'll need to interview for your own job if you choose to remain with the company). White dot sale happens; most everything non-modeled or non-returnable gets a white dot clearance sticker and the sale goes on for several weeks to slim down inventory. You still get shipments, believe it not. (New releases will still come in, plus whatever c-ap in the DC they want to clear out.) Nooks (if you have any) and other pricey merchandise ($$$ ETG stuff) will be manifested to other locations. Other locations begin to loot your carts and fixtures if the DM allows or turns a blind eye. Store closes. Some booksellers and management are there for 2-4 weeks after to pack everything up (someone's gotta pack up the remaining merch, registers, info stations, phones, PDTs, etc.) Remaining merch is boxed up in huge boxes and shipped off to the DCs. Junk hauler company comes in to gut the rest of the store. Keys turned over to the landlord. Ding-dong, the store is dead.
tldr: you'll get somewhat advance warning. Maybe. Who knows with the new owners. They may just kick everyone out and hire a third-party company to pack up the store. And I wouldn't count on severance anymore.
You also have to consider leases & location.
I know there's a large, major store in Boston, yet i can't imagine something
like that closing, as it seems to anchor that specific mall (which is popular).
Despite current sales activity, it benefits the actual mall to remain open,
because people do rely on it.
Then again, it is a very large store.
Can't be cheap to run it.
ABSOLUTELY!
wanted to make some of the money they paid for the company back, then they’ll only keep the top performers.
If your store did as bad as ours did- start looking for a new job !