Chico's FAS Reviews

Pros

Clientele is fairly loyal, the passport loyalty program helps with that and the staff at most levels are nice people to work with.

Cons

Promotions seem to go to those who have a personal friendship with regional and store managers, even if internal people may be better qualified for the job. Managers sometimes have to work crazy hours to compensate for reductions in available hours for part-time sales people, but this is probably not unique in retail.

Pros

The employee discount is nice - but promos to get extra discounts are unfair.

Cons

Upper management does not support the employees at the store level.
Extreme favoritism
Pay is terrible - bonus are bad if you are not in one of the "favorite" stores.
You make calls begging customers to come in on a weekly basis. You get yelled at and hung up on all the time.
The customers are very demanding and do not have to follow any rules - hoity toity.
Sales and promotions change almost daily - customers are constantly confused and return things at an alarming rate.

Advice to Senior Management

Support your store staff and ADVERTISE. Use the payroll for advertising instead of pissing people off by calling them all the time - we are sick of begging for business.
Stand by your policies - your customers expect you to ignore them - and it is hurting profits.

CATALOG RETURNS ARE DESTROYING THE STORES.

Pros

Customers were awesome. Good selection of clothing.

Cons

Poor management, No training. No encouragement. No breaks.

Advice to Senior Management

give up on store greeters, need salespeople to sell and help customers.

Pros

Decent start salary & benes.

Cons

Co-worker training was horrendous. Unable to properly train then retaliated when called on it. Very childish person. Management did not seem to think this was a problem & sided with co-worker. Was left feeling management never cared, so why did I get hired at all?
Laid off in 5 months! Maybe they new it was short lived & I had a bad experience. Company "culture" was stuck-up.

Pros

clothes are fabulous
lots of selections to put together an entire wardrobe
friendly neighborhood atmosphere among peers
regular customers create a family atmosphere among shoppers
close to home
I went from shopper to sales associate

Cons

training on operations was very haphazard compared to other retail stores in the area
manager can be very abrasive at times when stressing company policy orders
associates often chase customers to get the sale before others can get there to greet them
saying hello to everyone is the most important aspect of our job - even more important than replacing clothing back on the racks

Advice to Senior Management

Give the sales associates a little less structure. Chico's personnel are in love with the clothing and can sell the items naturally to the customers. I think that most of us were customers before we came here for a paying job. I recognize many people in the store as they come in.
Managers should not be berated or scared into treating their sales team as children who need discipline and feedback about every action. There should be more positive than negative criticism with suggestions on how to correct negative behaviors.

Pros

Product line is fabulous. Employee discounts are good. Basically a good place to work, have some concerns.

Cons

Hours given to part time who want more hours. There are so many who only work to get the employee discount. They don't really have to work to help support a family.

Advice to Senior Management

Hours given to the part time people who need the money, not just working for the Chico's discount.

Pros

flexible schedule is great for families
great bonus opportunities available each shift

Cons

no full time sale lead opportunities

Pros

Very understanding and accommodating to needs

Cons

Bonus structure is a large portion of mgmt pay if you make sales plan great if you don't it's difficult at times to survive on base.

Pros

The clientele and co-workers are upbeat and friendly. The discount is generous.

Cons

The breaks are minimal, the pay is lousy and you work hard.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't sacrifice our boutique image by taking away little extras for our customers to enhance the bottom line.

Pros

Chico's provides a generous discount when sales goals are met. Chico's has a loyal clientele. Part time sales associates are given a certain degree of decision making opportunities when dealing with customers.

Cons

The pay rate is low. One never gets a regular schedule and the schedule is posted weekly so you can't plan anything. The merchandise is high priced and some is of inferior quality.

Advice to Senior Management

The constant barrage of discounts, sales and coupons have created a general distrust of the 'actual' price points. The real price is the sale price and anything else has come to be perceived as a rip-off.