My Journey Through Retail
As I sat in my reading nook, week 8 of quarantine, burdened with passion, purpose, confusion, desire, anger, fear, and a tap into the collective emotional swell we as a species were feeling; I looked back on the road that took me here. I first had the idea to open my own store in 2015, It would be 5 years later that dream became a reality. A journey at the most superficial level, upon further inspection this was a calculated course carved by the cosmos.
The beauty of the fashion industry is that many of us get caught in the tractor beam and pulled in. Few and far between are those who were sewing in adolescence and carried that passion to career level. The retail industry employs 1 in 4 people on the planet and in 2012, with my freshly minted Bachelors degree in History, I found myself lost in that statistic.
My life to that point had been focused on Psychology and History. Passion 1: Be a clinical psychologist. Passion 2: Historian/Professor. I now found myself working part time for minimum wage, selling ripped jean and highly suggestive graphic t shirts. I had led a privileged life up to that point and now I had to earn my keep. I landed a job at Express. Something deep inside of me had always been interested in presentation, at this point I just didn’t have the emotional intelligence to quite describe what or why.
In the trenches of holiday season, I earned my stripes. I'd enter the Mall at 4pm and usually not leave until 10am the next morning, after folding the entire store. This reliability earned me a spot on the sales floor. I met young professionals, teenagers, working parents, and fashionistas. I was a glorified clerk, people came to Express for a reason, I just had to inform them where stuff was, show them the fitting room and clean up. But on rare occasions, I could sell. In those moments, it was like the alternate timeline of my life was overlapping with my current one. I felt full of purpose, I began to realize selling was teaching.
We had just opened our newly remodeled store. Look at that high quality polyester suit. Also peep my dads tie.
My store manager Jess was also a drill sergeant. She would yell things into the earpiece like, “Touch it once” or “Control your Controllables”, little did I know these sayings would reshape my synapses and align for a greater future. I bought my first suit and decided, for a reason that evaded me, I would go to the store that sells jeans and graphic tee’s, dressed to the 9’s. Over the next year our suit sales increased 150% year over year, making us the number one store in the region for tailored clothing. I wasn’t even a key holder yet, and when customers walked into the store, they immediately approached me as the manager.
After 2.5 years I moved on to Jos. A Bank, a “high end” men's clothing store. That love of presentation was now rising to the top. I could viscorely feel the memories of watching the Sopranos. Tony often wore a polo but when he put on a suit, it was like dealing with a whole different person. I felt that at Express and now I was being called an “expert” as the Store Manager of Jos a Bank. I implemented weekly meetings to go over selling techniques with my staff, and also product knowledge. Everything I learned was through trial and error, it was now time to be proactive about clothing. That decision marked the end of my teaching aspirations as I knew them, and gave birth to a new form of teaching.
How is this the only picture I have of me at Jos a Bank - I’m sorry
The product at Jos. A Bank was… of a subpar quality. I was the store manager during the infamous Buy 1 Get 4 Free deal. SNL even did a sketch about how cheap the product was. All the while I kept hearing the names of other brands, people were asking about production, quality control, the material, and mentioning another store around the corner from me. My eyes began to see past the shore I was standing on, and view the vast ocean that was the fashion industry. It was 2015 and the idea of, “I could do this” began to take hold of me. But not yet….
I went to the store around the corner, saw a sport coat with a price tag for $895, I asked what deals he gave. He said, “free alterations”. I knew it was time to swim in that ocean. I began my employment at a family owned boutique shop. My years of corporate retail and their passion and knowledge of fashion were a perfect blend. I implemented best practices, cleaned the store, and began to see a steady increase in sales. During my time there I went to trade shows and saw this whole new world of retail. That desire to stake my own claim in the territory of retail exploded.
As I sat in my reading nook during quarantine, I looked back at this journey and what I learned from each job, Express an international retailer: taught me selling is teaching, that if you're going to do something, do it once and right, and you have to “Control your Controllables”, everything else doesn’t deserve your attention. At Jos A Bank, a billion dollar company, I learned how to manage a store, examine qualitative data, focus on product knowledge, and grow relationships. Finally at the boutique store, I learned how NOT to treat clients and employees. I began to see that my love of Psychology, my love of History, and now my love of Retail has one common thread (terrible pun), the focus on people and their interaction with the world. Psychology taught me to look at how people long to express themselves, how looking good can make you FEEL good. History opened the door for selling more than just a product, I can now sell a legacy, whether it be your legacy, or that of the textile industry and American manufacturing. Retail taught me I can see people for who they truly are, and help them express themselves to their fullest, clothing is just the medium I use to do so. The first suit I sold was $345, the last suit I sold was $12,995. The fashion industry is the ever expanding frontier. I didn’t have half the knowledge I needed when I started on this journey, but I did it. There is always room for you, your desires, and your passion.
