Why I love The Container Store.....

Back in November, at one of my "job search support" breakfast meetings, one of the regulars mentioned that they had a part-time job at The Container Store and that she really enjoyed it. Well I LOVE The Container Store and thought that since I had some extra time on my hands, I might as well apply to work there and maybe pick up some seasonal work over the holidays. So, I applied online and waited....

So, what is The Container Store, you ask? Some of you may not be familiar with the store since there are only 43 brick and mortar stores in the US (soon to be 44, as of this weekend! But more about that later) but the company also does a strong catalog business. I think that I first became familiar with The Container Store through their catalogs because I didn't live in an area where they had a store until college. Simply put, The Container Store sells stuff to put your stuff in! They like to say that they help people save space and valuable time. They specialize in storage and organization exclusively (plus gift wrap and boxes -- which technically is "gift storage") and sell a broad range of solutions to solve your organizational conundrums. And it is a perfect place for a sometimes anal/organization person like me. Don't know what to do with the lids of your pots? They have a number of pot lid organizers. Do you spend hours searching for matching shoes or socks. They have solutions for that too! Is your mail piling up on every free surface you have? Not a problem, The Container Store has many different solutions for you. And while some of the things they sell are not the cheapest that you might find, you can be sure that they are high quality and that the store has the broadest selection of options you will find anywhere.

At any rate, I got a call back from The Container Store in late January to come interview for a part time position. Although, at this point, any work I did there would just reduce the amount I would get in unemployment, (what a dilemma --- do no work and make $x or work part-time and still make $x) I decided to still interview because 1)I knew they offered health insurance and other benefits to part-time employees, 2) there is a GREAT employee discount and 3) I actually suspected that having something to do during the week outside of the house might actually make me more productive when I was back in the house.

Now, I have never worked in retail before but this was not seen as a drawback at The Container Store. They just viewed me as a person that they didn't have to untrain from the "typical retail mindset." I knew that I liked their products but I didn't realize how different they really were as a company until I started interviewing and learning about the company

A little history
The Container Store was started in 1978 by it's two founders, in Dallas. At that time, they were focused on providing commercial storage and organization products, such as dairy milk crates and Metro commercial shelving, things that normal consumers couldn't readily get, to those consumers. Everyone thought that they were crazy, that they couldn't possibly build a successful business model for a store that sold boxes. But they remained dedicated to the idea and have since built a $ million private company that is run based on the personal principles that have meant something to the founders since high school.

Their principles
The Container Store runs it's business based on certain core principles that address everything from relationships to manufacturers, to how they communicate with and treat employees to customer service. They work directly with many of their manufacturers as partners, even placing orders during a manufacturers low season to help them maintain their business. They believe in fully training each employee so that they fully know how to do each aspect of their job before they are allowed to do it on their own. They also believe in training all employees on all aspects of running the store -- from truck to sales. They are very selective about the people they hire, believing that a great employee equals 3 good employees, and, as a result, they believe at compensating them on a higher scale than typical retail jobs. They also believe in communicating store level and company level goals, metrics etc to all levels of employee, whether full or part time as well as fully training each employee so that they know how to do each part of their job before they do it. Also, they believe in being contributing parties to the communities that they are in and donate 10% of the opening weekend proceeds from a new store to a local charity. And most importantly, they believe in providing excellent, proactive service to their customers. Yes, they do have sales goals but the viewpoint is that if they do all these other things well, then the sales goals will come naturally as each employee feels empowered and has a sense of ownership. All these things have given them a place in the top 20 of Fortune's Top 100 Companies to Work For list every year since they became eligible to compete in 2001, ranking #1 in 2001, #2 in 2002 and 2003 and #3 in 2004. You can learn more about the company here.

They were interested in hiring new people to help support a new stocking and merchandising process they are trying out and I decided to join the team. So I have spent the past 2 weeks, coming in at 5am 2 days a week to learn the truck and merchandising process. This includes unloading the truck, sorting merchandise, unpacking the merchandise and putting it on the shelves. If you have ever been to a store, you know how amazingly clean, organized and fully-stocked the shelves always are. I now know how they get that way. There is definitely no lull in activity, which is actually good since, if you have to be up at 5am, you want to be busy so you will stay awake! And, I know I can skip my workout on these days. It's fun though and the people are all really cool. I want to keep working there after I start my new full-time job and with the process change and the slower schedule through April, I think it will be pretty managable. After all, I have a bunch of things I want to buy with my employee discount!

And oh yes, the 44th store opened in Little Rock, Arkansas this weekend. So, if you are in the Little Rock area, stop by and check it out! Other new stores are planned for Plano, TX, Scottsdale, AZ, Edina, MN & Cincinnati, OH. Find info about current store locations here.