Pros
Let me just preface my review with this; everything you read in my review(and all the other reviews posted here) is completely true. If you're someone seeking out a job with this company don't say nobody warned you. Before I was hired with the company I had searched for information on Von Maur, as it was new to our area and I had never heard of it(because for some reason Mr. Von Maur doesn't think advertising is necessary, um right because that makes sense). The first thing that popped up was this website, so I began to read what everyone had to say. I will honestly say it shocked me and made me very nervous to start my first day. I read all of these reviews AFTER(why I didn't before, I'm unsure) accepting a position with the company. Sure I could have called them and changed my mind, but I thought that wouldn't be fair, maybe these reviews were left by disgruntled employees(which later turned out to be un-true, which is why I said everything you read here is 100% factual), so I figured I should give them the benefit of the doubt. Plus I had already worked in retail for quite awhile and Von Maur did offer some "benefits" my other employers didn't. So with all these reviews aside I went in and made the best of it. The first few months were great, getting the store ready for grand opening was a really fun experience. Everyone was happy and really did seem to enjoy working at Von Maur(so far). Let me tell you how quickly that went down hill, extremely fast. Not only is the turn-over rate here astronomically high(A LOT of people were hired in and quit within the same week), the morale in the store is beyond poor. I didn't know a SINGLE soul who worked there that actually enjoyed their job. EVERYONE complained, every person I ever talked to(including DM's), everyone is miserable, and I feel bad for my friends who are still left behind. I really hope they can find a way out, and SOON. Most(if not all, myself included) dread going in there everyday. I never saw anyone come in with a smile on their face and ready to "take on the work day". Half the time there were no customers to even assist, and the one's that did come in would just bee line to the sale racks. Honestly I stopped helping those people after awhile, it was truly a lost cause. There was no point, why am I going to waste my time just to sell someone a $5 t-shirt? Really? No. Thanks for the .5 cents Joe Schmoe. Upper management(with the exception of maybe 2 people) are a complete joke. They all pretended in the beginning that they were there to help you, and answer any questions you may have..and that their door was always open. I never felt like I could approach either Floor Manager, infact I usually tried to avoid them altogether and I would ask someone else before I resorted to them. I don't know if either of them just don't have any personality what-so-ever, but it was very rare you could ever crack a smile on their faces. Nobody was trying to be their "best friend", at least I certainly wasn't. But neither of them had the qualities that in my opinion a person at a managerial level should have. It seems that most of the upper management(store wide) are all women, and most of them are single/white/females. I mean I don't know if they feel like they've reached the top in their career ladder, but ladies there are far better opportunities out there for you. I'm not sure why many of you have chosen to make Von Maur your career path. I can tell you it's a dead end, and you will probably go nowhere. But hey if you like working 10+ hour days for poor pay then that is your prerogative.
Cons
The aesthetic layout of this store is atrocious. The mannequins are atrocious, I can tell you half the time customers made fun of the crap that was put on them. NOBODY would be caught dead in half the stuff that the visual team put on those mannequins. I mean they try to compare themselves to Nordstrom, which is an upscale/contemporary/modern department store. Von Maur is anything BUT that. I don't even know how they think they're going to survive at Perimeter and be directly next to a Nordstrom. They are in for one RUDE awakening! The website looks like it was the first website to ever be created on the internet. I'm not really sure who your web designer is, but he/she needs to be fired. Or go back to web design school, it's horribly put together and the pictures of the clothing are ridiculous. The time clock system(TESS) was ridiculous, being scheduled 9,10,11 days in a row should be illegal. Is that not some kind of slave labor? Yes I was signed on to be full time, but I certainly wasn't aware I'd be working that many days in a row..and it happened OFTEN! Also to work a 12-9pm shift and then to be scheduled for a 7am shift the next morning, what is that about? We were given a survey to fill out and list the biggest problems we had with TESS. Every single person I talked to wrote that down as their major concern. Do you think anything was done about? Nope! Whoever analyzed those surveys(which it was probably one of the upper managers) clearly didn't care and came back with some other bogus excuse. I was also really sick and tired of going to cover in areas I was unfamiliar with, and other departments never seemed to have to cover anywhere. It was embarrassing for a customer to ask you a question on a product you had never seen before. Then they'd act like you were a total idiot for not obviously knowing the answer. I mean customers can be stupid too, and just think that since you work somewhere you obviously know EVERYTHING. However, it was ridiculous the amount of coverage slips we'd get on the cash bags each morning. Coverage in departments got to be extremely sparse and I understand every department needed a body for business needs. But to be so low on staff you can't even go to the BATHROOM? I mean really? I mean I just have no words, that's just beyond absurd. In my opinion upper management should have come and watched the department, but they were probably too busy online shopping in the HR office. Oh also we couldn't have water on the floor we had to drink out of the water fountain that legit tasted like sewer water. I don't understand why we couldn't have water, at least to keep in the stock room. It's a CLEAR liquid, if it spills it's an easy clean up. Really don't understand that rule and why it was ever effective. The truth of it is working in retail can be fun, when you work for a company who cares about you as an employee. Von Maur doesn't care about its employees, they only care about getting that $5 t-shirt sale from that customer. Any concern you voice will be "heard", but trust me nobody is really listening. It will go in one ear and straight out the other. OH and really panty hose, skirt & a dress? I wasn't aware I was in 1955. I left Von Maur on my own terms, so I'm not a "disgruntled employee" who was laid off or fired. I am just stating the facts and sharing my experience with this company.