As a buyer for Belk, one went to market in Charlotte to buy merchandise for their stores. After all, Charlotte was the headquarters for Belk, and all of the vendors there were approved by the corporate office. At least twice a year, we would travel to Charlotte to buy goods for the stores. Most of those times, we would stay in motels rather than driving back to Columbia. And, most of those motels were nice, except for the one Howard Johnson's that we stayed at that was next to a biker bar. Toward the end of my tenure as a buyer, we commuted from Columbia to Charlotte for market to save money. That wasn't near as fun.
Belk did not like anyone to use unapproved vendors. As I wrote earlier, sometimes it paid off to use an unapproved vendor like Best Luggage. I understood the Belk plan to use vendors that they liked, because they wanted customers to see most of the same merchandise at each of their stores, but we found that there were other vendors out there who wanted to get noticed in the largest privately-owned department store in the world, so we went to other markets outside of Charlotte.
The first one I went to was Atlanta. We went there for their Home Show. I was in the car with our store manager, and the others went in the car with our merchandise manager. I would have much rather been with them, but I wanted to get to know our store manager. He was a man who never talked to people. In fact, you had a hard time even getting him to say hello. When he would walk by my Candy counter, I would say hello to him, and he would either grunt or never respond at all. The rumor was that he was thinking all of the time about business and had no personal skills. I just thought he was rude.
Our first stop on our trip to Atlanta was Macon, GA. Our manager wanted to visit that Belk store, because he had come to Columbia from Macon. He and I had said nothing on our entire trip to Macon, until I turned to him right outside that town and said, "So, I hear you are from Texas." I was going to talk to him about my time there, as I was trying to find common ground. He said "Yes", and that was the end of our conversation. We got to the Macon Belk, and he was treated like a rock star. He ate up all of the attention. He seemed like a different guy from the cold and boring person we knew. We left Macon and got on I-75 to Atlanta. He cut on the radio, as he was totally ignoring me, and started singing along with the R&B station. This guy was an older white man who was singing soul and hip-hop. It was as if I was in a time warp.
We got to our motel, which was near the Atlanta airport. We decided we wanted to go to an authentic Chinese restaurant. Our store manager got into a debate with the restaurant employees about the pros and cons of Communism. These employees had escaped the brutality of Communist China, and they didn't want to hear anyone praising China. We barely got out of that restaurant alive. We spent the rest of that night watching planes take off and land from the airport.
The next day, we went into the city. We had rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Atlanta. It was the fanciest hotel that I had ever stayed in. The rooms were paid for by a vendor that wanted us to buy his stuff. Everyone had a private room. I wanted to steal one of the bathrobes, but I never got the nerve. I had a friend who lived in Atlanta, so I left the hotel and took the MARTA to have supper with him at his house out near Lenox Mall. I just wore jeans and an old shirt to see my friend. When I got back to the hotel, it was 10:30pm. Even though I had a room in the hotel, I couldn't walk in the front door, because I wasn't dressed "appropriately". They made me come in through the service entrance to go to my room. The next morning, we went to the market. I bought a lot of cool stuff for the store. One of the buyers bought a bunch of Chinese lace, which turned out to be a great buy for our store. It was another vendor that corporate took notice of, like my Best Luggage. That night, the vendor that paid for our rooms, took us out to eat at a very swanky restaurant in downtown Atlanta. The meal for all of us cost him around $1000. He made a very good impression on us. We didn't buy anything from him, though. We used him and abused him. Oh well. We left on a Sunday. Breakfast of cereal and strawberries in the hotel's dining room cost $15. I sat at the next table to Verne Lundquist who was in town to call the Atlanta Falcons football game. He got a full breakfast. No telling how much that cost.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Buyer Stuff
As a Belk store buyer, I had a little freedom into what to buy for my departments. The corporate office had guidelines into what to buy, and they bought goods that would be advertised in mailouts and special yearly sales, but we could buy merchandise that would be sold in the stores on a daily basis and be advertised in our local newspapers. The concept was to tailor the merchandise to the individual markets.
I had a steady stream of vendors coming into the store to pitch their wares to me. Some vendors were slick, but I came from a sales background, so I knew their tricks. One vendor brought in water purifiers. I asked her where she sold the most, and she said at the beaches. I didn't buy any from her, as she was too honest with me. Another vendor wanted to sell me some vibrators. A great idea for sore muscles, but we were a family store, and I just didn't like the connotation, so I passed on her. I did buy some picture frames from a guy who drove a Gremlin. I felt he needed the money. One thing I did, when I didn't know how well something would sell would be to give the vendor a certain amount of money and a purchase order form. They would fill out the form with their best selling product. If the product didn't sell, I wouldn't reorder from them. It was in their best interest to pick some good stuff for me. One vendor brought in some baby seals plush toys. If we sold them, a portion of the sale would go to the World Wildlife Fund. That seemed like a good idea and would make great advertising for the store. That was until I asked the vendor how much of the $19.99 seal would go to the fund. They told me 5 cents. I didn't buy the seals.
In the Gifts Department, I tried to find items that had been advertised on TV. I watched a lot of infomercials. My goal was to find something like what was advertised and bring it in to sell. My crown jewel was Tummy Toners. This was an item that had stirrups for your feet and a handle, separated by a tight spring. One would pull up on the handle and the exercise would work on one's abs. I found a vendor who sold them for $5/each. I bought 100 of them and retailed them at $19.99 as seen on TV, and then put them on sale for $12.99 or $9.99. We sold out of the first 100 in a day. I had to reorder. In all, I bought 10,000 units and sold them all within 6 weeks. I was reordering them on a daily basis in increments of 1000 per order. We had to stop selling them though when a man, weighing more than the recommended weight for the use of the item, pulled up on the spring and the plastic stirrups broke, putting a gash in his leg. He tried to sue the store, and we agreed to stop selling the Tummy Toners, but we had made a lot of money for the store.
Another success story was Jelly Belly jelly beans. I worked off of the fact that Ronald Reagan loved them, so I used that in the promotion. We sold more Jelly Bellies than any other Belk store. I got exclusive Jelly Belly fixtures, and I was written up in their corporate newsletter. The company also sent our store some artwork made from jelly beans. They were framed and we had to have security there every day they were on display. The "pictures" included the Mona Lisa and the Statue of Liberty. We were the only store in the Belk company to show them at that time.
With my successes also came gambles that didn't work. One was the Snuggies Bear. It was used in the TV advertising for the fabric softener, so I bought 200 units for the Toy Department. They sat on the shelves. No one wanted them. I ended up having to mark them down to clearance. It took a year to sell them out.
I did have one success story that was my favorite. It was called Best Luggage. A couple of guys from Miami came to see me one day. I had one of the best luggage departments in the company, and my sales had been noticed by this company. They imported cheap luggage from overseas. The one item that interested me was an attache case. It was made of a wood frame with a leather exterior. It also had a brass combination lock. If I bought them in bulk, they would cost us $12/each. I bought 25 and spread them out between our two stores. They came in black and brown. We sold them at a retail price of $99.99 and a sale price of $49.99 or $59.99. We sold out almost immediately. I reordered 100 units and used them as a doorbuster. They blew out. They sold better than Samsonite or American Tourister. The Belk corporate office took notice of them, and they bought from Best Luggage for all of the Belk stores. It was a huge success for a small company, and I would like to think I started them on the path to success.
I got numerous sales awards from Belk, and I was named the Best Buyer in our store. My merchandise manager also took notice and thought we should do something that no other department store had done. A videotape rental business like what Blockbuster was doing. I researched it and found a company that would be our distributor. We put together some rules concerning what kind of tapes we would rent. We would major on new releases and family films. One could use their Belk charge card to rent the tapes. After a certain number of rentals, we would sell the tapes and make back the cost of the tapes. With about a week to go before we were to launch this new rental department within our store, my merchandise manager was forced out, and they brought in a new guy who had no concept of how to be creative. He nixed the video rental department, and I had to cancel all of the orders. We also had a Madame Alexander doll show planned, with the VP of the company flying down from New York. Invitations had been sent out to many doll collectors in a five-county region of South Carolina. That show was nixed, and I had to cancel the VP's trip and all of the dolls coming with him. I had to send out notices to all of the collectors. It killed our doll business. The new merchandise manager wanted us to buy lean. We lost a lot of customers, and I was not able to buy things for the store like I once did. Life became hard.
On Mondays, Mr. Belk would come down from Charlotte to go to the Columbia Rotary Club meeting. He would come by the store and access everyone's performance. He would fire on Mondays. So, every buyer would come in on Mondays and take everything personal off of their desks and put them in a box. When Mr. Belk left at 4pm to go back to Charlotte, and he hadn't fired you, then you could unpack your box and put everything back on your desk. That was the pressure we were under with the new supervisor. I did get to go on some nice trips, while I was a Buyer, which I will write about next.
I had a steady stream of vendors coming into the store to pitch their wares to me. Some vendors were slick, but I came from a sales background, so I knew their tricks. One vendor brought in water purifiers. I asked her where she sold the most, and she said at the beaches. I didn't buy any from her, as she was too honest with me. Another vendor wanted to sell me some vibrators. A great idea for sore muscles, but we were a family store, and I just didn't like the connotation, so I passed on her. I did buy some picture frames from a guy who drove a Gremlin. I felt he needed the money. One thing I did, when I didn't know how well something would sell would be to give the vendor a certain amount of money and a purchase order form. They would fill out the form with their best selling product. If the product didn't sell, I wouldn't reorder from them. It was in their best interest to pick some good stuff for me. One vendor brought in some baby seals plush toys. If we sold them, a portion of the sale would go to the World Wildlife Fund. That seemed like a good idea and would make great advertising for the store. That was until I asked the vendor how much of the $19.99 seal would go to the fund. They told me 5 cents. I didn't buy the seals.
In the Gifts Department, I tried to find items that had been advertised on TV. I watched a lot of infomercials. My goal was to find something like what was advertised and bring it in to sell. My crown jewel was Tummy Toners. This was an item that had stirrups for your feet and a handle, separated by a tight spring. One would pull up on the handle and the exercise would work on one's abs. I found a vendor who sold them for $5/each. I bought 100 of them and retailed them at $19.99 as seen on TV, and then put them on sale for $12.99 or $9.99. We sold out of the first 100 in a day. I had to reorder. In all, I bought 10,000 units and sold them all within 6 weeks. I was reordering them on a daily basis in increments of 1000 per order. We had to stop selling them though when a man, weighing more than the recommended weight for the use of the item, pulled up on the spring and the plastic stirrups broke, putting a gash in his leg. He tried to sue the store, and we agreed to stop selling the Tummy Toners, but we had made a lot of money for the store.
Another success story was Jelly Belly jelly beans. I worked off of the fact that Ronald Reagan loved them, so I used that in the promotion. We sold more Jelly Bellies than any other Belk store. I got exclusive Jelly Belly fixtures, and I was written up in their corporate newsletter. The company also sent our store some artwork made from jelly beans. They were framed and we had to have security there every day they were on display. The "pictures" included the Mona Lisa and the Statue of Liberty. We were the only store in the Belk company to show them at that time.
With my successes also came gambles that didn't work. One was the Snuggies Bear. It was used in the TV advertising for the fabric softener, so I bought 200 units for the Toy Department. They sat on the shelves. No one wanted them. I ended up having to mark them down to clearance. It took a year to sell them out.
I did have one success story that was my favorite. It was called Best Luggage. A couple of guys from Miami came to see me one day. I had one of the best luggage departments in the company, and my sales had been noticed by this company. They imported cheap luggage from overseas. The one item that interested me was an attache case. It was made of a wood frame with a leather exterior. It also had a brass combination lock. If I bought them in bulk, they would cost us $12/each. I bought 25 and spread them out between our two stores. They came in black and brown. We sold them at a retail price of $99.99 and a sale price of $49.99 or $59.99. We sold out almost immediately. I reordered 100 units and used them as a doorbuster. They blew out. They sold better than Samsonite or American Tourister. The Belk corporate office took notice of them, and they bought from Best Luggage for all of the Belk stores. It was a huge success for a small company, and I would like to think I started them on the path to success.
I got numerous sales awards from Belk, and I was named the Best Buyer in our store. My merchandise manager also took notice and thought we should do something that no other department store had done. A videotape rental business like what Blockbuster was doing. I researched it and found a company that would be our distributor. We put together some rules concerning what kind of tapes we would rent. We would major on new releases and family films. One could use their Belk charge card to rent the tapes. After a certain number of rentals, we would sell the tapes and make back the cost of the tapes. With about a week to go before we were to launch this new rental department within our store, my merchandise manager was forced out, and they brought in a new guy who had no concept of how to be creative. He nixed the video rental department, and I had to cancel all of the orders. We also had a Madame Alexander doll show planned, with the VP of the company flying down from New York. Invitations had been sent out to many doll collectors in a five-county region of South Carolina. That show was nixed, and I had to cancel the VP's trip and all of the dolls coming with him. I had to send out notices to all of the collectors. It killed our doll business. The new merchandise manager wanted us to buy lean. We lost a lot of customers, and I was not able to buy things for the store like I once did. Life became hard.
On Mondays, Mr. Belk would come down from Charlotte to go to the Columbia Rotary Club meeting. He would come by the store and access everyone's performance. He would fire on Mondays. So, every buyer would come in on Mondays and take everything personal off of their desks and put them in a box. When Mr. Belk left at 4pm to go back to Charlotte, and he hadn't fired you, then you could unpack your box and put everything back on your desk. That was the pressure we were under with the new supervisor. I did get to go on some nice trips, while I was a Buyer, which I will write about next.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Buyer
After about a year working in Books and Candy at Belk in Columbia Mall, my supervisor announced she was going to retire. She was also the store's buyer for much of the Home Store. She asked me if I would be interested in her position, and I said yes. It would be more money than my minimum wage job, and there would be more prestige. She recommended me to upper management, and I was named the new buyer for Home.
My departments were: Bedding, Bath, Window Treatments, Rugs, Housewares, Small Electrics, Luggage, Toys, Stationery, Greeting Cards, Records, Candy, Christmas, Notions and Books. A daunting task at best. I had to buy merchandise for all of these departments plus supervising all of the employees. And, it wasn't just the Columbia Mall store. It was also the Belk Downtown store.
I realized quite quickly that this job was going to be far more impossible than I thought. I didn't know what a "duvet" was, much less a "sham". As far as the Bed and Bath areas, I had to depend on the sales people to guide me through it. I had a little more knowledge of the other areas, and I had "bought" Luggage for Belk, when I worked in the downtown store, so I knew about that. I also knew something about Stationery, Greeting Cards, Books and Candy. However, I was drowning in the paperwork. I went to our merchandise manager, who became my retail mentor, and I told him how much trouble I was having. He hired a woman to come in and be the buyer for Bed, Bath, Window Treatments, and Rugs. That was a huge weight taken off of me.
I started with the rest of the departments and found that I had some of the best employees to supervise. I had one girl whose main job was to remember what I did the day before. With 11 departments to buy for, I often forgot one day to the next what I had done. She was my invaluable assistant. I also had employees who cared about the business. I would get samples from vendors of things, mostly in Housewares. I didn't cook, so I had no use for skillets or cake pans. So, I would use them as sales awards for my people. They loved it. I would get them presents on their birthdays and just treat them as people. I found the more I did for them, the more they did for me. Consequently, I had the lowest turnover ratio in the store. The store's average was 3 months. Mine was 2 years.
I also had our merchandise manager show me how to buy effectively and read reports. He also told me that I would not be fired for a year of buying, because I was working off of my predecessor's numbers. They sent me to buying school in Charlotte for a week of training. There were about 50 people in the class from all over the company. On the first day, the facilitator went around the room to ask how was business to each buyer. Almost everyone said business was great. When he asked how did they know, the stock answer was that their manager told them it was and for them to say that in the class. When he came to me and a buyer from Savannah, we both said business was okay but could be better. He asked us how did we know, and we told him that was what our reports said. The two of us were far ahead and the others, and the facilitator used us to teach the class.
One of the faults of the previous Housewares buyer at our store was she bought too much Pfaltzgraff 5-piece place settings. In fact, we had over 100 of them, and they were stacked to the ceiling in the stockroom. I called Pfaltzgraff to see if they would take them off of our hands, but they said no. They wouldn't let me move them to clearance, because they were very protective of their prices, so I called up a friend at J. B. White's Department Store who was their Housewares buyer. He sold them to him at cost, and they took them. It was a win-win for both of us. One thing I tried to do was to make relationships with other stores in the area. We would refer customers to them, and in turn they would do the same for us. Belk wasn't very pleased in that relationship, but it worked.
More Buyer stories coming soon.
My departments were: Bedding, Bath, Window Treatments, Rugs, Housewares, Small Electrics, Luggage, Toys, Stationery, Greeting Cards, Records, Candy, Christmas, Notions and Books. A daunting task at best. I had to buy merchandise for all of these departments plus supervising all of the employees. And, it wasn't just the Columbia Mall store. It was also the Belk Downtown store.
I realized quite quickly that this job was going to be far more impossible than I thought. I didn't know what a "duvet" was, much less a "sham". As far as the Bed and Bath areas, I had to depend on the sales people to guide me through it. I had a little more knowledge of the other areas, and I had "bought" Luggage for Belk, when I worked in the downtown store, so I knew about that. I also knew something about Stationery, Greeting Cards, Books and Candy. However, I was drowning in the paperwork. I went to our merchandise manager, who became my retail mentor, and I told him how much trouble I was having. He hired a woman to come in and be the buyer for Bed, Bath, Window Treatments, and Rugs. That was a huge weight taken off of me.
I started with the rest of the departments and found that I had some of the best employees to supervise. I had one girl whose main job was to remember what I did the day before. With 11 departments to buy for, I often forgot one day to the next what I had done. She was my invaluable assistant. I also had employees who cared about the business. I would get samples from vendors of things, mostly in Housewares. I didn't cook, so I had no use for skillets or cake pans. So, I would use them as sales awards for my people. They loved it. I would get them presents on their birthdays and just treat them as people. I found the more I did for them, the more they did for me. Consequently, I had the lowest turnover ratio in the store. The store's average was 3 months. Mine was 2 years.
I also had our merchandise manager show me how to buy effectively and read reports. He also told me that I would not be fired for a year of buying, because I was working off of my predecessor's numbers. They sent me to buying school in Charlotte for a week of training. There were about 50 people in the class from all over the company. On the first day, the facilitator went around the room to ask how was business to each buyer. Almost everyone said business was great. When he asked how did they know, the stock answer was that their manager told them it was and for them to say that in the class. When he came to me and a buyer from Savannah, we both said business was okay but could be better. He asked us how did we know, and we told him that was what our reports said. The two of us were far ahead and the others, and the facilitator used us to teach the class.
One of the faults of the previous Housewares buyer at our store was she bought too much Pfaltzgraff 5-piece place settings. In fact, we had over 100 of them, and they were stacked to the ceiling in the stockroom. I called Pfaltzgraff to see if they would take them off of our hands, but they said no. They wouldn't let me move them to clearance, because they were very protective of their prices, so I called up a friend at J. B. White's Department Store who was their Housewares buyer. He sold them to him at cost, and they took them. It was a win-win for both of us. One thing I tried to do was to make relationships with other stores in the area. We would refer customers to them, and in turn they would do the same for us. Belk wasn't very pleased in that relationship, but it worked.
More Buyer stories coming soon.
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