Crate and Barrel Reviews

Cons

Store Managers in jobs they are way under qualified for
Too much emphasis on sales metrics
Has lost the wonderful feel of discovery for both customers and staff
No praise for the little achievements that you can not track on a spreadsheet

Cons

pay is not competitive, management training is poor, unrealistic expectations are placed on the team with little to no guidance.

Cons

I really don't have any to share

Cons

NO positive attitude coming from corporate. ALL about credit cards when we can't even get customers their furniture they ordered. ETA dates constantly being pushed back causing orders to get canceled left and right. If you have worked full time and know other jobs around the store, you will get used to cover any of them when they need it and it gets stressful when you don't normally do customer service in the office and people are calling in fits because of their missing and delayed furniture.

Cons

New Management was more focused on signing customers up for the C&B Credit Card than selling product. It didnt matter if you sold $2600 of items, if you didnt get a credit card they didnt care. Also the "appearance" of the store mattered more than selling product. If it was the last item in the store and it was in the window we couldnt sell it. Customers would get really upset because we would have to order it for them. Also, lack of "showcased" items in store. We would put something on display in front of store but not have enough to sell when customers asked for it. Why showcase it, if we dont have it?

Cons

Upper management-
45 mn lunch
No breaks at all
No one to cover the sales floor
Assistant store manager mistreats the employees
Verbal abuse, mental abuse
The annual reviews are always - the same- you need improvement- regardless if you breaking your back
Raises are like 0.35 cents if that!!!
No more Bonuses- only upper management!!! And the sales and back of house are the ones that break their backs .
Promotions are never given to the employees from the store - hire outside!! I have seen it 6 times
No promotions within

Cons

Management is not the best. They only promote those they are chummy with, not the hard workers. I remember a woman who worked for the Madison Ave store for years and she didn't get promoted for years presumably because she wasn't "management material", while these annoying young little straight out of college girls were immediately placed in management positions. Not fair at all.

Management was often unreasonable. I remember this particular store manager back a few years ago who would not let me go home even though I was practically almost vomiting on the sales floor. She was also very hard to get along with.

Pay is not the best

Cons

Many resources and systems are not integrated. Training on those systems is not very comprehensive, leaving you to figure things out along the way. When I ask for help, I sometimes find that even the experts on certain systems are thrown a curve ball.

Cons

Management is either disconnected or indifferent to the low morale of the store and how desperate the staffing situation has gotten.

The store has been on a steady decline. Turnover at every level and in every department has been enormous and should long have been noticed and looked into. The little and infrequent hiring hasn't been able to keep up with the departures so the store has reached a critical stage with skeleton staffing. Staffing is so thin all it takes is for 1 person to call out sick and you have 2 or less associates on a given shift. This is referred to as the "new normal" which is unfair because everyone is pulling more than their fair share of work. It's true, it's a competitive job market and there isn't a lot of interest in retail, which means hiring efforts should be prioritized and strategized.

Corporate should care about store staffing because we're unable to service our customers, not to mention staff burnout. How much revenue is lost when customers have a bad experience and leave without buying anything and choose to take their shopping elsewhere? Customers can't find anyone to help them in furniture and housewares, wait in long lines, have long waits for online orders and merchandise coming from the stockroom, and don't find product on shelves because replenishment can't be done and it takes multiple days to process a truck.

Wages aren't competitive, the POS system, computer equipment, and processes are outdated, new policies (shorter lunch, removing magazines from the break room, no vending machine, no personal items) strip away anything that was enjoyable or convenient. There's no feeling of community and all that's given is a no-explanation explanation and silence on the issues.

Cons

hard to get a schedule you want (including requesting days off), corporate isn't great to work with