Would this improve your shopping experience in any way?

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

DW MeanLaureen asked me to post this question before she left for work to see what everyone's opinion was.

She is a manager of a Hallmark store. Her store is now corporately owned, but prior to that it was owned by an independant retailer. When they were independantly owned, they had a dress code of what they could and couldn't wear, but not a uniform outside of a nametag.

When they became corporate they started wearing uniforms. Anywhere from denim shirts and black or khaki pants to a red McDonalds style polo and black pants. Finally they bought them black aprons with "Hallmark" stitched on them and told them they could wear any solid color shirt underneath with black pants and they were allowed to wear tennis shoes IF they were just plain - not the fancy athletic kind with all the bells and whistles. Managers would not wear aprons. Everyone was happy because they had a little more freedom with their wardrobe.

Now they are imposing a new dress code. They can only wear white shirts on top, black pants on bottom and no tennis shoes whatsoever. It has to be a solid black closed toe and heel shoe. Managers are to wear ties (male) or black jackets (female). They did the white shirt thing once a few years back and it was a disaster because they would be filthy after opening up shipments. Have you ever tried unloading a tractor trailer in white shirts and not end up looking like you were dragged across the floor of a garage? And a lot of them are upset over losing the ability to wear tennis shoes since they have to stand on concrete for 8 hour spans.

Her question to you guys is... Does the dress code of an employee of a store like this REALLY made that much of a difference in your shopping experience? Would you be a happier customer coming into a store and seeing all of the employees wearing a white shirt and black pants instead of seeing them wearing solid color shirts with the black apron and black pants? I can see how you might not like a sales associate to be outrageously dressed..

 

[Alicnwondrln]

in a store like this I would not care
hope she is doing well
is that crazy guy gone yet?

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

is that crazy guy gone yet?

Yep.. she got her favorite Christmas present from her boss last year. She came down and fired him on December 20th

 

[agotta]

I think it would depend. Having the dress code ensures that everyone comes to work PROPERLY dressed. Some people have different concepts of what is appropriate. I can see how it is hard with the white shirt to keep clean. I also think it helps point out those who work there vs. having to look for a name tag.

 

[hentob]

I like to know who the employees are in case I need help. The apron is a fabulous idea and one they should stick with. Sounds cute for a Halmark Store.

Who cares what they wear under it

 

[j's m]

I could care less what they wear, as long as they don't have multiple piercings, pierced eyebrow or tongue and bare arms with tons of tatoos.
I've seen the aprons, they're cute and really enough. I worked in a warehouse during college and know what 8 hours on a concrete floor can do to you, comfortable footwear is important. Wish her luck.

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, after working in several retail establishments...no, it wouldn't really matter, as long as the employees were courteous and helpful! When I last worked, it was in a bookstore. I was among those that worked at getting the store ready to open...we were allowed to wear anything we wanted. And we were told that we could wear jeans, but no sneakers, once the store opened. No holes or such in the jeans and no shirts with logos, wording, that sort of thing. Well, about a week after the store opened, they changed the 'dress code' to only nice pants (khakis, chinos). That put a bunch of people in a bind, since they had only jeans. I left the store after finding that I couldn't stand on the concrete floor, in one place for hours on end. But, they did go back to allowing the employees to wear jeans 6 months later.
I have no problem with the solid color shirts with a black apron over it. It's nice to know right off the bat who is an employee and who isn't. I'll have to pay attention to what our Hallmark store employees are wearing the next time I go in.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I like to know who the employees are in case I need help. The apron is a fabulous idea and one they should stick with. Sounds cute for a Halmark Store.

Who cares what they wear under it

That is her opinion also. They agree the solid color shirt rule is good to keep from having loud prints. They were up in arms about the apron at first but within a week grew to love them because they had pockets which came in handy.

Lauri brought up a point on a conference call about the white shirts - for stores that are outside and not in malls like hers (and over half of the corporate stores are free standing buildings.. not mall stores) it can get cold in the stores in the winter when the door opens. White is not a widely found color for warm clothes and ivory is not acceptable. The corporate answer? "Well, they are going to have to find them"

 

[KAMLEM]

I don't care what employees wear as long as it is appropriate. A couple of weeks ago my DD's and I were shopping in the mall. We went into one store and I was appalled by what the girls were wearing and I am really not a prude. They both had on very tight belly shirts where at least 3 inches of their stomachs were hanging out and they both had pierced belly buttons. Their jeans were ridiculously tight. They both had thongs on that you could see in the back because the jeans were so low. It almost looked like this was the dress code for that store:

Belly shirts (tight ones only)
Tight, low rise jeans
Thong underwear (must be visible above jeans)
Belly button piercing required

It wasn't what I would consider a trendy, teen store either. It's a store that my mother shops in!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Nope, I don't care what an employee wears at all, unless it was see thru or body parts hanging out. That I can do without. Although I really don't care, just don't care to see it.

I think your dw's dress code thing is stupid. It is just management (read the wealthy owners) having fun with the little people. They are out of touch with society, imho.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I think your dw's dress code thing is stupid. It is just management (read the wealthy owners) having fun with the little people. They are out of touch with society, imho.

I think you hit the nail right on the head here.

 

[ChristmasElf]

I think black and white outfits are more fitting to restaurants (Olive Garden where the white shirt and black pants as does a few others)
The apron is more than enough. A solid POLO style shirt with kacki or dark pants should be fine. Why not tennis shoes though? No one looks at what the sales force is wearing on their feet, do they?

 

[Nancy]

I think for Hallmark the apron with different colored shirts would be fine. White shirts remind me a wait staff. I also don't get the no sneakers rule, my feet would kill in regular shoes all day long. I have found some nice solid black tennis shoes though.

I work in a chain grocery store and we wore white shirts for so long and they were horrible to keep clean. We now have solid colors for our official uniform, we get a choice of royal blue, burgundy and celery green. Everyone looks so much nicer and most of all we all look clean!

 

[mudnuri]

Honestly, some parts of your post dont make sense

I've never been in a hallmark that has concrete floors, they've always been carpeted. And I've never seen a employee just "standing" for 8 hours- they're moving, bending, walking etc.

I also dont know of any associates that would unload a tractor trailer truck- usually the driver unloads the shipment, but eh...

onto the dress code. I like to see dress codes- for the simple reason that not everyone dresses correctly for positions in the public. I've seen employees at stores with stains on their shirt- holes in them, nasty pants etc..

it wouldnt change whether I shop there or not, but it would impress me that the company cared enough about its image.

Good luck to her
Brandy

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Honestly, some parts of your post dont make sense

I've never been in a hallmark that has concrete floors, they've always been carpeted. And I've never seen a employee just "standing" for 8 hours- they're moving, bending, walking etc.

I also dont know of any associates that would unload a tractor trailer truck- usually the driver unloads the shipment, but eh...

onto the dress code. I like to see dress codes- for the simple reason that not everyone dresses correctly for positions in the public. I've seen employees at stores with stains on their shirt- holes in them, nasty pants etc..

it wouldnt change whether I shop there or not, but it would impress me that the company cared enough about its image.

Good luck to her
Brandy

To answer you - yes there is carpeting. One layer of cheap commercial grade carpet over concrete, no padding. Some stores have tile, some hardwood. Definately not anything that provides you with some comfort.

Yes they move and bend.. all while still on their feet.

You want the driver to unload the tractor trailer - you pay extra. Doesn't come in the cost of shipping. It's not always paid. Even when it is, they are required to get it inside the back door. From that point on, it's the employee moving the boxes and pallets.

The dress code issue.. they have a dress code. The question was whether people felt the change to white shirts only and no plain tennis shoes was an improvement in a customers shopping experience. To me, seeing employees with grime and dirt on their white shirts after bringing in a shipment puts out a less favorable appearance than employees in solid color shirts and black aprons.

Hope that "makes sense" to you

 

[goofy4tink]

Honestly, some parts of your post dont make sense

I've never been in a hallmark that has concrete floors, they've always been carpeted. And I've never seen a employee just "standing" for 8 hours- they're moving, bending, walking etc.

I also dont know of any associates that would unload a tractor trailer truck- usually the driver unloads the shipment, but eh...

onto the dress code. I like to see dress codes- for the simple reason that not everyone dresses correctly for positions in the public. I've seen employees at stores with stains on their shirt- holes in them, nasty pants etc..

it wouldnt change whether I shop there or not, but it would impress me that the company cared enough about its image.

Good luck to her
Brandy

Even if the floos is carpeted, if it's thin carpet, with no padding, it's almost the same thing as standing on concrete. That was my issue at the bookstore. After 2 hrs of standing at the register, my back was killing me. And if I was on my feet, stocking shelves for more than 2 hrs. it started again. While we didn't unload the trucks, we did unpack the boxes. Oh man...I'm getting tired and achy just thinking about it.

 

[Disney Ella]

I don't see the need for the uniform. Most Hallmarks I've been in don't have teenagers working in them and the employees all seem to understand what kind of clothes they should wear to work. Yet another stupid thing to bring home the point that "we're in charge and we can tell you to do anything we want. So there!"

 

[Maleficent13]

I have no idea where this store is located, but in my experience, there are places where the clientele is very picky. I could see people complaining that they couldn't identify the sales associates, that they thought jeans were tacky (in response to the lady who's bookstore went to khakis), that in fact the dress code did ruin the shopping experience for them. I've seen people complain about these things.

Depending on how much feedback they got, I could see them changing the dress code. And even if the people in only one store were complaining, corporate would have to make the change across all stores (to avoid the very mature "But they don't have to!!!" argument).

 

[Shugardrawers]

Wow, our division only requires that we dress "neatly and with no visible advertising". Jeans and tennies are fine. But then we don't work in a corporate store either.

I like when the employees of a store can be easily identified but I would think the black apron is plenty??

ML isn't the only one frustrated lately. Since the shake-up we've had to deal with the most ridiculous new rules too. Our current favorite it called "66 steps to success". It's a list of 66 tasks we are to accomplish during our merchandising visits. Trouble is the shift is only 3 hours except during holidays Oh, and the person who figured out the order of priority for these tasks obviously has never been a merchandiser.

I don't know what the heck is going on in KC but someone has completely lost it. This is the real world buddy, not a bunch of theoretical graphs and pie charts in a stock holders meeting.

 

[RitaZ.]

There are two Hallmark shops in our city. One is at the mall and they wear the apron thingies, which I think are boring, but fine. At the other shop, they just wear regular clothes, no jeans though. I rarely go to the one at the mall. I prefer the other one; the overall look of that store says, to me, "come in, browse, shop".

There was a Hallmark store that I went into in another county and the employees were wearing the red polo shirts, I recall the floor being tiled. I didn't like the whole polo shirt look, and didn't care for the tile floor at all. The store lacked warmth, it's just not what I envision when I think Hallmark. I basically walked in and walked out without buying anything, the look and feel of the store didn't "invite" me to shop.

To me, Hallmark stores are really all about ambiance. If a Hallmark store doesn't reflect that, I won't shop there. Sure, I'll go in and buy a card if I need one, but I probably wouldn't buy more than that.

You can probably guess that I love Hallmark and shop there frequently.

As long as the employees are dressed appropriately, with no tummies and no butt cracks showing, that's really what matters to me.