Crate & Barrel Reviews

Pros

Crate has a great reputation for excellent customer service. They strive to stock high quality product that is a good value and modern design. Unlike most retail jobs, they only ask for one weekend day allowing you to still have a personal life. Decent discount. Extremely flexible schedule for part-timers, still relatively so if you are full time.

Cons

The computer systems are ancient, slow and embarrassing to use. New product roll-out is so backwards it's frustrating to merchandise. Inventory management is not regulated well, so stock levels are never reliable - especially when there is a promotion offered. Sales associates are expected to perform so many varying tasks - re-stocking shelves, organizing shelves in the stockroom, cleaning bathrooms, cleaning the salesfloor - that they often are unable to to the job they supposed to be performing, giving good customer service and selling product. Management at the store level is extremely clique-y. You may be an extrememly hard worker and go above and beyond the call of duty, but if you are not one of the annointed few, it won't be noticed or appreciated - so don't bother.

Advice to Senior Management

Change is always good, but it's a shame that with the depature of "old guard" so goes any concern for the employees as valuable commodities to be nurtured and treasured. Upper management, please take a good hard look at the store managers. Address the problems you see instead of sweeping them under the rug. Crate can be a truly great company, but it needs strong managers who know how to motivate and inspire rather than just keep the status quo.

Pros

flexible with schedules, great product, people and the discount

Cons

working with the customer service managers, they have forgotten how to give good customer service

Advice to Senior Management

retrain the Help desk managers to improve their customer service

Pros

Much of the merchandise is well chosen. There is a huge selection of glassware at great prices. The furniture is well-priced and interesting -- but practically a state secret -- no one knows it exists. Nicely designed holiday looks. Gorgeous original christmas ornaments. C&B is one of the few stores that does not make staff work on commission and because of that customers praise the staff for service. Unfortunately customers don't always realize that commission is why they get such bad service elsewhere -- if you don't look like Mr. Big Bucks in most stores the staff won't even look at you. At C&B a little friendliness from the staff makes customers assume they are getting great service. Sometimes they are sometimes they are just getting lip service.

Cons

Unfortunately there are so many. The managers are very unpleasant, they snap at staff to smile but they themselves are gloomy and mean. The managers are unbelievably rude to customers any time a customer complains. The managers also get paid $125 for any seasonal staffer they bring in and that means that some holiday staffers get great hours -- and rest get the crumbs. It is also the only store I have ever worked in that does not offer seasonal staff a basic set of hours. Also they hire twice as many as they need at the holidays resulting in too many unqualified people and too few hours to go around.
There is a lot of cost cutting too. The IT systems are outdated. I could have sold twice as much if we had the merchandise -- the store is constantly out of stock -- and so it becomes the fault of the staff for not selling the customer "something else". The store is run like a little mom & pop store with the sales associates being told to do many jobs that are not sales jobs like restocking, cleaning the kitchen -- even the sales floor. There is no cleaning crew, the floors, shelves and bins are full of gross dirt and dust. C&B's idea of a cleaning person is a sales associate who for a minute or two is not selling something or restocking. I have even personally been told to put toilet paper in the stalls.
Relations between co-workers are awful. Much of it is along racial lines. Workers who have been brought in to earn those bonuses for the person who recommended them tend to be less than hard workers, they have great hours and protection, what else do they need to do? People are way too much in other peoples business. Managers seem to enjoy criticizing staff in front of customers for things that are irrelevant or that could be discussed later.

Advice to Senior Management

Get professional. Clean house. Literally and figuratively. Hire a cleaning company to do the cleaning. Run the company like a company not a corner candy store. Stock the store. Put the stock for each floor in a stock room on that floor -- running up and down three flights for stock is crazy. Train stock people to know where stock is. Have calls to stock go to a Stock Manager, not just anyone who happens to pick up the phone. Get new Store Managers. Don't pay managers bonuses to bring in referrals. Get a new ad agency. Upgrade your IT. Get rid of Marimekko or make it just part of your look -- it is one tiny and to a lot of people dated look. Realize that foreigners do not sign their credit cards and since a huge percentage of your business, especially holiday, is from other countries learn to deal with it and stop having screaming matches with the customers.

Pros

product discount. classy retail environment. hard working employees.

Cons

bad communication. company is too scared of getting sued to actually discipline bad employees.

Advice to Senior Management

please remember that your employees reflect your company - so choose wisely.

Pros

Most coworkers are nice and friendly and strive to do a good job.

Cons

Facts matter less about issues and performance than how your managers "feel" about you. Perception is everything and actual facts mean nothing. If you are one of the chosen, it can be a good place to work although pay scale is lower than average. If you are a fair person with a good work ethic, it will be maddening for you because it is all WHO you know rather than WHAT you know.

Pros

Lovely environment, great product that changes frequently, fast-paced, friendly associates, approachable management, generally a pleasant clientele, good health benefits

Cons

Very low pay, commission structure for furniture is horrible, upper management is very slow to promote & increase wages, terrible hours (normal for retail), very cheap company (compensation, computer systems, supplies, etc)

Advice to Senior Management

Be more open to recognizing talent, promote quicker, and get up to date on compensation.

Pros

great product, good design, mostly good people.

Cons

the old regime or pillars of the culture need to step down. they have only an insular PoV and talk a good game of "change" but don't walk it. favoritism is blatant. double standards are rampant. store managers hide in their offices, on their cell phones talking or texting as if they were area managers.

Advice to Senior Management

stop talking about the culture. what happened in the "old" days are gone, just because things were done "one" way doesn't mean that there isn't something better if massaged and tweaked. embrace change and move on, let some new blood in there.

Pros

Lots of friendly people
Great work atmosphere
Good pay for an intern
Lots of encouragement
Management was very interested in sharing store operations

Cons

Part-time employees were not trained as in depth as the interns.
Lots of managers to talk to about issues-good and bad

Advice to Senior Management

The role of the manager's is unclear. It is hard to decide who to talk about certain issues. I found my manager's to be great and easy to talk to, but at times it was hard to figure out who was responsible for what.

Pros

the product is great and the discount was more than fair. you were proud to sell such a fabulous inexpensive product

Cons

the work requires you to be on your feet at all times and the floors are not forgiving., very hard to stand all the time

Advice to Senior Management

please tell emplioyees thank you once in a while and be on the floor. don;t take so many weekends off

Pros

Creative aspect is great. Many things to do so you are always busy and never just standing around.

Cons

To much wrapping to prevent breakage of client purchases, so it is time consuming for the customer to complete their purchase.

Advice to Senior Management

none