Job Responsibilities
Responsibilities included preparation of ALL clothing the
company sells. From a casual T-shirt to a silk dress. Depending
on the season, you WILL be standing for an entire shift of 8
hours OR more just ironing and steaming. Sales are a large part
also but stores are generally very slow during winter months in
colder regions of the U.S. Company does not give a store manager
much to do in the sense of tasks, you are a glorified key holder
with another title. You clean, vacuum, iron and steam. A
housekeeper with keys is more defining. Paperwork, not much
everything is done for you by corporate. Manager keep track of
what is called IPT's (Items per Transaction) and $PT's ( which
is dollars per transaction) this is considered their bonus
program.
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Job Requirements
No upper level education required for any position at store
level, in fact, retail or sales experience is also not required.
Which is a great way for this company to not pay its people
well. As far as a career path with this company, if an
individual is right out of high school, this is probably a place
to start a retail career. I would not recommend long term
employment.
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Uppers
Helping the children find their perfect special occassion garment. Whether it
was for a wedding, christening, photograph, or christmas gathering it was nice
to
be a part of that intimate and sensitive time within someones life.
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Downers
Long hours alone in the store. Sometimes open to close which is
about 12 hours. No time to go out and get a lunch, or a breath
of fresh air or even use the bathroom when needed. No
acknowledgement from corporate unless it's to point out
something wrong. District Managers fly all over renting
expensive cars, hotels and eating gourmet dinners while all of
this is charged back to your store. Makes it impossible to
achieve a profit. In fact, you cannot achieve a profit under
those conditions. The company in a sense has set you up to fail.
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Lifestyle
If you are an experience manager looking to grow with a company,
Strasburg Chidlren is not the place for you. If you are just
starting out and want to work with a company that is flexible
and people oriented, try a pet store for a fun and up beat
environment. I do not recommend this company to anyone. It will
break down your drive for success or make you run for the door.
It is not worth the time and and energy to put into the
interview process. The company is deceitful and will only
attempt to set you up to fail. Corporate conducts itself in an
unethical and hostile manner. Its an Enron in the making. CEO
wants nothing more than to build this into a public company by
the blood and sweat of underpaid employees only to place it for
sale and get out. There are NO MEN at store level. Underwritten
law that no one will admit to, but corporate will NOT ALLOW
store managers to hire men. Newcomers to retail, search other
companies; stay away from Strasburg Children dba Strasburg
Jarvis Inc. of Lenexa Kansas.
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Compensation
As a store manager you get a salary that could range from
$28,000.00 to 32,000.00. Depending on the companies immediate
need you might be able to negotiate higher, but you will not
stay long with the company. They will find things and make
things up to keep you from getting an increase.
Benefits...hahaha. Health coverage for an employee (individual
only) will cost you about $250.00 a month. If you have a spouse
to add or children it will cost you about $598.00 A MONTH! They
do offer vacation, 2 weeks after a year of service and
additional years up to 3 weeks for employees who have lasted the
5 year mark. Generally those individuals are the home office
people and the District Manager who are allowed to profit from
flying all over and blowing your profit margin! Why would they
want to leave a company that works for them? DM's make only
about $40,000.00 a year. This company only offers you 2 sick
days and 2 personal days every 6 months. If sick days, personal
days or vacation time is not used, it's gone; they do not allow
time to be rolled over. So, if you as a store manager cannot use
your vacation or other paid days because you are working to fill
the gap of not having employees the benefit is gone. It is also
a private invested company with NO stock options.
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Advice to Jobseekers
If you are an experience manager looking to grow with a company,
Strasburg Chidlren is not the place for you. If you are just
starting out and want to work with a company that is flexible
and people oriented, try a pet store for a fun and up beat
environment. I do not recommend this company to anyone. It will
break down your drive for success or make you run for the door.
It is not worth the time and and energy to put into the
interview process. The company is deceitful and will only
attempt to set you up to fail. Corporate conducts itself in an
unethical and hostile manner. Its an Enron in the making. CEO
wants nothing more than to build this into a public company by
the blood and sweat of underpaid employees only to place it for
sale and get out. There are NO MEN at store level. Underwritten
law that no one will admit to, but corporate will NOT ALLOW
store managers to hire men. Newcomers to retail, search other
companies; stay away from Strasburg Children dba Strasburg
Jarvis Inc. of Lenexa Kansas.
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