Mervyns Reviews

Pros

nice supervisors and co-workers, let you cashier a lot, and very flexible about your schedule. Also, cool and new cash registers.

Cons

mostly offered seasonal and part time employment, very messy story, kept you a little too busy, annoying and demanding customers.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep stores looking more clean and presentable, train cashiers better for various problems and situations, and offer more hours to work

Pros

There was a feeling of teamwork and camaraderie. People were always willing to help each other and share knowledge. Compensation seemed to be on the high side for retail. There were strong brands (Sprockets, Hillard & Hanson, High Sierra) at very reasonable prices.

Cons

The condition and maintenance of the stores was not always kept up. Very little went into renovations during the time Target owned Mervyns and none when it was owned by Cerberus although new stores were opened. A lot of the merchandise in stores lacked in design appeal. Sales associates needed training in customer service and there needed to be more of them.

Advice to Senior Management

No comment.

Pros

the company retained many people for a substantial amount of years (10+). the environment was inviting in terms of job potential, personal growth into other departments within the company and the willingness of supervisors to allow you to explore those other avenues.

Cons

management of the company was handled poorly. there were a lot of corporate politics. too many meetings about meetings.

Advice to Senior Management

be more truthful when giving updates regarding company status.

Pros

Flexible hours. Great for a current student or second part time job. Great discount too on store products. Have many locations, so finding a place close to where you live is possible, saves commute and gas time. Shifts start as early as 5 AM and end as late as 11:00 pm. Able to request time off for appointments or vacations, but you need to do it 2 weeks ahead of time, which can be frustrating. As long as you have a good relationship and suck up to management, they'll be pretty lenient. You tend to have a specific focus in one department, which makes it easier for you to become acquainted with the products you're selling.

Cons

It's a retail environment, so always being forced to be fake in front of customers who wouldn't care how you behave. You are not paid on commission, so don't act you are. Working overtime is worst than getting caught stealing! Prepare to be reprimanded if you stay a minute past 8 hours.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't follow the org chart like it's the Bible. If you need to address something two levels below you, feel free to do it yourself.

Pros

Revolving door for middle management gives opportunities for career progression. Genuine employees that make you feel at home-- no egotism. Facilities are in good shape because of former parent company's (Target) investment.

Cons

Very poor morale. Upper management are dictators who did not understand how to manage team morale. Leadership team did not reward the strong performers.

Advice to Senior Management

Now that it's shut down, there is not much left to say. Sadly, the infrastructure of Mervyn's was well-positioned for a comeback during the economic downtown. However, the leadership team's myopic focus on EBITDA ultimately sank the ship. The fall of Mervyn's is a tragedy in retail.

Pros

Now there are none because it has gone out of business. But before, it was a fun environment, with a family feel to it. It was a rewarding experience and their pay for managers and above were competitive in the marketplace. Additionally, there was a lot of freedom to run your business as you saw fit, within certain guidelines and of course as long as it made good business sense.

Cons

Went bankrupt and out of business. Owners only cared about making a profit for themselves out of the real estate portion and drove the business into the ground. Also at times there were many different conflicting directions given out from headquarters. Very few benefitted positions exited within the store structure. Mostly all positions were part time, unbenefitted positions.

Advice to Senior Management

This is a mute point. Out of business.

Pros

It was very close to my place of residence, and it payed the billz. Also they had very cool gear there by SouthPole, Nike, FUBU, ECKO and other famous hip hop brandz. I could dress cool for cheap but still be down.

Cons

People were cool but management was very demanding. They would not let me take time off for a few days of vacation. I ended up missing spring break because they said "we are going to be very busy." Turned out we were not busy at all. So there went my spring break. FML.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop harrassing employees to not take time off. I know economy stinks but we need lives too.

Pros

Before all the layoffs Mervyns was a great place to work. It had a friendly environment, challenging work, decent salaries, and room for advancement. We had training opportunities within the company and a lot of support. The people were the best, it was almost like family and many of the people who left prior to the end of the company say it will never be the same at any other company.

Cons

All that ended when Target sold Mervyns to a group of private equity investors who raped the company and left 20,000+ employees without jobs. Their greed led to the demise of Mervyns. We needed to have John Goodman at the helm a good 12-18 months before he showed up. By the time he joined, the end was already upon us and his hands were tied. He could have been our saving grace.

Advice to Senior Management

I'll be checking the "ownership" and financial results of any company I join in the future.

Pros

Advancement opportunities or to beef up your resume either for volume sales or # employees managed.

Cons

As a male, it is a little bit difficult to assimilate into the culture. Most of the management is female. It is a company that requires you to have a cheerful attitude all of the time, management meetings are not serious and often full of ridiculous time-wasters disguised as team-building activities.

Advice to Senior Management

Look for a new job

Pros

The best reasons to work for Mervyns were the training and the competitive pay. The training program was top notch and it really gave me the tools to do my job and move on to the next level. For most of the time I worked there, I felt like the level of support was very good. It was not as easy to get promoted into a buying position as a planning one. I think some people were promoted/hired in senior management that shouldn't have been and that lead to the demise of the company. I have mixed feelings about my time there because alot of it was very good but towards the end I grew tired of the poor management when moved to another department.

Cons

The downsides of working at Mervyns was the poor direction of senior management. I felt that there were some people who were hired as management who were ineffective. Another downside was that it wasn't a public company so there were no stock options. Also, you might get promoted but not necessarily into the position you wanted. Another downside was that Mervyns was not a very well respected brand. I wasn't very proud to tell people I worked there. The location of the office was in Hayward which is not a very nice place to work and the building was old.

Advice to Senior Management

I would say that they should have been more careful with who was hired in senior managment.