Week 5: Chicago

My four day stay in Chicago is over and I was sad to go. The weather was AMAZING and so was the Sears corporate offices, Hoffman Estates. I learned so much about the company and got a real feel for the culture (which is more concrete at the corporate level than the store level). Everyone is so energized and excited for the transition that Sears is going through and open to our ideas and insight which was so refreshing! At the store level, none of that translates. Of course, some core values have made their way down but for the most part the store (more so the cashiers and sales people than management) is not passionate and the "mojo" is inconsistent. throughout the store. We all were able to give our insight and the corporate people really seemed to listen! It was nice. =) The CEO, Lou D'Ambrosio gave us a 45 minute talk he is hilarious! We also heard from directors and heads of all of the business industries Sears is in, including automotive, home improvement, appliances, and electronics. My favorite of course, was the director of apparel and home fashions, John Goodman. He was beyond fab! We went to spiffy dinners, had limo's, and stayed at a decent hotel, except it was in the middle of nowhere! I also had lunch with two of the buying interns that work in corporate and can I say, jealous?! I met so many people that I know will develop into lasting friendships. 


Here are some pictures from the trip. I'll add more in my project.

                                               One of the pretty glass/mirror covered buildings.

                                                      There were three floors of a sample store!

The atrium of one of the buildings in Hoffman.

Analise, a Kmart intern from Seattle.

                                                           The famous Kmart "blue light". 
Through all the merchandise directors we had speak, apparel had the most exciting news! Along with the Kardashian collection, they will be rolling out more celebrity collections at all locations. Right now, SOME of the Kmart and Sears stores have the Audrina Patridge, Selena Gomez and Sofia Vergara collections. Soon, all the locations will have their corresponding collections for more consistency. They are trying new vendors and brands to make themselves more relevant which I'm really looking forward to seeing. In addition to the classics that Sears sells in general to their older customer base, they are really branching out to the trendy and trend driven consumer which I think will pay off in the long run. The prices for some of these new collections however, is a bit questionable. Although they bear the name of a celebrity, I think a dress for example, $150 isn't going to resonate with the Sears customer. Hopefully, they are marking up just to mark down, otherwise I don't know how well the collections will do. Honestly, if I'm going to buy a dress for almost $200, it wouldn't be at Sears. I did ask about the price decision and I was told that the prices are set by the level of quality. I haven't seen any of the clothing firsthand so I don't know if the quality is much better than the house brands. 




I really do think I gained valuable insight at the conference though. It was very engaging and definitely made me more confident in the route the company is going in. The experience was truly amazing. As for next week, I'm looking forward to using some of the knowledge I gained at corporate at the store level. Especially because many employee's including managers have never been to Hoffman so I really need to be grateful and share everything that corporate shared with us.