Ive stopped posting on niketalk years ago but still have always kept up with the site and the forums. I am a manager at Champs in Sangertown Square mall in NewHartford, NY. This post really interested me because a lot of people bring up valid points:
1.) Yes, you should try to hire people who are somewhat into sneakers and/or collecting, keeping up on releases and the history.
2.) Yes, most of the people working at these stores are part-time high school kids.
Here is the most important thing that needs to be understood to both sides of this argument. Yes, we are a service industry and yes our main job is to sellfootwear. It is GREAT to have people who know the product's history and nostalgia. I have worked at 3 different Champs in the past 3.5 years, whether it bepart time, full time, AM, or now, manager, from my home Pittsburgh, to now, New York state. From a business stand point, the first thing you need is TRUST ofyour employees and people who will do what is needed to be done without you telling them? Do you know how hard it is to probe an applicant for those qualities,then on top of that expect them to be sneaker aficianados?
In an ideal world, I would have a crew of nothing but sneaker heads who bust their @**%% working and give top notch customer service; this isn't an idealworld. Just because person A knows about retros shoes history isnt going to make them a better salesperson or give better customer service if they dont have itin them. Person B may know jack-%@+% about retros but he greets every customer, gives advice, and gets shoes, offer accessories (which are a HUGE part of ourbusiness...we have ratios that need to be hit, i.e. an insole sold for every 23 pairs sold), and leaves the customer completely satisfied when he/she leavesthe store.
Just because the girl didnt know the shoes were Barkleys doesnt make her less of a sales associate. Chances are, if I have a guy who does nothing but talkabout retros all day, and literally does nothing at work but talk about retros all day and not wait on customers, and doesnt know a damn thing about technicalrunning shoes, who do you think is getting hours?
Ive been a collector for 7-8 years now and have a decent collection of around 250 pairs of kicks. Youll never see me dead in a pair of retros to work in. Istay in $160 Asics Gel-Kinsei's all day. Those insoles we try to sell to you? Youll never catch me without them in my shoes. Sure, its part of our jobrequirement to sell those things, but they work. If you don't want them, you dont have to want them or try them, but all that girl was doing was her job.Play 3 hours with the insoles in your hoop shoes and I guarantee youll tell a difference from the b.s. styrofoam insoles Nike or anyone puts in. If not, its anunconditional gaurantee on them anyways.
You *****ing about her not knowing about Barkleys is petty. If she can get your shoes for you in the size you need, she has done her job. If she wants to callthem Kobes, who cares? You know what they are. I guess you would have rather had John Q. Sneakerfreak talk about the Barkleys with you. Then, when he goes inthe stockroom and realizes you both wear the same size, and there is only one pair left in his size, he decides to tell you that there are none left in yoursize so he can get his on employee appreciation tomorrow.
Champs isnt open because the employees all know the histroy of retros, they are open because they hire the RIGHT people to successfully run the business.Apparently the original poster of this knows nothing about running a business, and only knows how to complain about a girl getting him the correct shoes in thecorrect size, and suggests a product to him that will indeed provide more comfort and stability for his kicks.
Just my two cents.
Rick
