Altar'd State reviews

There are too many cons to really get into. In the beginning, I loved working for this company and enjoyed going to work every day. Within my first couple weeks there was a management shift, and I was asked to be a key holder. When I entered into an entry level management position my outlook on the company quickly changed. I was only with the company for 4.5 months before I found new employment. I loved the idea that this company has “give back” brands and has an inspirational message. They are technically a Christian company and when I started out working for them I was very excited about this aspect of the job. I quickly realized that, in my experience anyway, it was all a show. When I first started working, they were closed on Sundays, but almost every other Sunday and sometimes every Sunday we would have to come into the store and work. We had to do displays and mark downs and mannequins. They claimed on their door that Sunday was supposed to be a "day of rest" but inside the store, all of their employees were basically forced to come in and work long shifts, sometimes 8 or even 12 hours, to complete almost impossible tasks in the amount of time allotted. I understand that doing floor sets and mark downs are normal for a clothing company and that often times, stores have to do them over night. I do not have a problem with working hard, or long, hours. I do have a problem with a company that claims to respect and honor Sundays as a holy day of rest but then turns around and secretly works its employees on that day. A couple months into my time there, they decided to just be open on Sunday. I had much more respect for them after they did this. At least they weren't secretly having their employees work. On that same note, all of the upper/corporate management that I came in contact with were rude and only cared about the bottom line. I never encountered anyone who seemed to care about the message the company was claiming to portray. This upset me because I was excited about working for the company because of the message. Those are my main complaints but there were many other frustrating things associated with this job.

Upper management, hours,unrealistic expectations, flip-flopping policies and values, CEO, I began working here under the pretense that this was a outstanding company that really cared about giving back and had real Christian values. I quickly realized that this was simply not the case. I had hoped that the founders would be as genuine as their website bios made them out to be, but they turned out to be some of the worst and most greedy individuals I've ever come across. Money is the absolute bottom line here, everything else is just a tactic to drive sales. They wanted to find a niche of customers that would appreciate a unique retailer; a retailer that actually cared about good true values, wanted to give back to the community, and one that acknowledged a Christian atmosphere and the importance of a real relationship with our Lord and Savior. So they put all sorts of flashy messages and promoted "giveback" brands and played christian music in the stores to draw these folks in. They made sure to be closed on Sundays, for "a day of rest", claiming that this was a time to be with families and give folks the opportunity to go to church. But little by little, these values are disappearing from our stores. We are now open on Sundays, we are told to push sales to an uncomfortable extent, we receive countless emails from upper management belittling stores and employees, and we are worked to the bone for minimum wage. Employees are told that they need not wear altar'd state brand clothing, but are constantly pushed to buy and wear the brand. On at least a dozen occasions I have seen our identical articles of clothing being sold at other retailers for less than half of the ticket price that you will find at Altar'd State. Frankly, it's just embarrassing when a customer comes in to return over $200 of merchandise because they found the same things at TJMaxx... This company had the potential to be something truly extraordinary. It breaks my heart that the reality is nothing like the pretty picture they try to sell the general public. I wish the founders would take a good hard look in the mirror and evaluate where this company is now and where it is headed. If this is what you really had in mind, than by all means, return to your private jet, angry, greed driven ways. But if you actually wanted to set yourself apart from other retailers, it doesn't have to be too late to change your company's ways.