Pros
Great product line, good but somewhat hypocritical Christian themed marketing (more below i.e. work/life balance) and creative, eye-catching product displays and windows. Company CEO invests heavily in bringing together store managers in multi-day brainstorming sessions but good Heavens, he chews tobacco and spits in a bottle. What CEO does that?!
Cons
Flat out ... there is no such thing as work/life balance if you're in management. None. Nada. Nothing. Your life becomes Altard State. Family commitments are missed, late...late...late hours means missing dinner and even when you have a scheduled day off you're expected to participate in conference calls or visit your store if corp execs decide to pop in. Often corp visits are scheduled and cancelled at a moment's notice. Untrained store personnel are put in dangerous situations on ladders, hand tools and power tools putting together windows and displays with extremely poor directions, inadequate hardware and flimsy poorly thought through props. Even when you make the windows look exactly like the picture snooty visual people change their minds on the presentation and force even more long hours. If you're a seasoned retail veteran you want to steer completely clear of Altard State! There is nothing here for the seasoned retail professional. If you're just starting and enjoy a baptism of fire, this is the company for you. The latest ridiculousness was a mandate for mgmt to work till 11 p.m. even though most stores are closed at 9. Ridiculous. This new policy is physically taxing, completely without merit and will most assuredly cost the company valuable talent and possibly cost the store mgr their life when they fall asleep at the wheel driving home.
