It baffles me that the people at the helm of this company drove it into such a deep ditch. There was a time when we were so good! There would be a full parking lot on a Tuesday afternoon and every register going. And weekends were crazy. But we had systems in place and everyone knew what to do. It's just so hard to understand how they so quickly ruined it all. I get how they did it I guess but I just can't u derstand why. Why didn't they see the things they needed to keep and the things that just weren't working when everyone in stores were telling them daily? It almost seems like this was done on purpose.
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I wish I could tell you the FT s all knew the business well but we had two dept people who spent 20 plus years there and did not. Not saying that was in every store. My question is how one of them would know what sells when he has been avoiding cashier work for 26 years because it Freaks him out. Nice guy, but really poor example. Honestly, both seemed like charity hires and therefore charity retention. One worked, the other hid from work.
First big mistake was buying brand names from middlemen while other stores bought directly. There was much cronyism by the old regime. THAT was why Bbby products cost so much and THAT was why they had to issue multiple coupons. So in the end, they lost money while their profits lagged. But their middlemen pals made money.
BBB actually sells the same/similar products as Target, Walmart and/or Costco only at a higher price and they are located close to their lower price competitors. Once in a while, BBB does offer a good discount or else carry a product not carried by their local competitors but that strategy is not enough to survive.
Cake domes and tier severs? Sounds like my store.
Go woke?
The company was broke before it went woke.
It wasn’t being woke that maybe this company irrelevant. It was corp goons.
First big mistake was removing ordering control from managers in the stores. A store in Albany has very different customers and needs than a store in Reno. Each store could order 12 widgets, or 120 depending on what local demand was and backing of the merchants inside that store. This WAS a very unique system for a national retailer and chided as "old" or "antiquated" since everyone knows that central computer generated ordering was "the future". Now, after a couple years of "the computer" ordering for us, the stores are ONLY left with ridiculous unsellable quantities of fringe, low selling goods ( see 96qty cake domes, and 120qty 2 tier servers most stores had). ALL funds the company HAD for purchasing goods was spent on garbage in huge unsustainable quantities and to he-l with what STORE management ( not newly installed corporate management ) knew were proven winners that our customers bought in big quantities. Second big mistake was then to systematically get rid of those experienced, knowledgeable store management and hard working full time reliable key associates in every single store ( because again, top down "get what you get" attitude is better than bottom up "we need and can sell " attitude from the past) Never mind that the past was a very profitable proven way the company had operated that ONLY needed a major overhaul in the online end of the business, NOT the store side.
MT and cronies were hired to put the final stake in and ki-l BBB. Mission accomplished.