I work at Mervyn's Headquarters in California and they laid off 150 people today...very sad. I think my job is pretty safe, but you never know. Check out the video from the local news...very sad

http://www.ktvu.com/video...etail.html

sometimes i feel like there'sno such thing as job security. life can be so sad sometimes.

Time to come home to Colorado!

sag10 said:

I know! I'd love to, but I don't know what I'd do out there! I'm in retail merchandise planning and there's really nothing back in CO for me! There's big retailers in St. Louis (Robinsons May), Abercrombie's in Colombus, OH, and then there's a string of retailers out here in Cali (Gap/Banana Republic/ Old Navy, Gymboree, Restoration Hardware, William Sonoma / Pottery Barn)....Since there's so many retailers out here, if I do lose my job (knock on wood), I'll probably stay out here in the bay area.

ReturnOfDOOK said:

In 2006 they are opening a huge Cabella's store...

I understand... the bay area is a nice place to be.

That's too bad but I suppose after they sold and started closing all the stores it was inevitable.

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[Edited 10/28/04 18:18pm]

lovemachine said:

True - our new owners are cutting the fat, and we definitely had, and still have a lot of fat to cut. We closed 8 stores in the Minnesota area and I expect us to close some other stores that just aren't profitable (we have stores in Oklahoma!! Who fucking knows about Mervyn's in Oklahoma!?!?). So, hopefully we'll close crappy stores and start opening up new stores in our core market (Cali, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, etc...). Either that or I get laid off. That would suck.

So, we have no Mervyn's left in Minnesota, right?


ps- sorry DOOK. I watched round after round of layoffs when I worked at American Express. It sucks ass. Good luck to you.

endorphin74 said:

Yup...we closed 8 of them a couple months ago...apparently we sold them for far less than we bought them for. The Merv never really took off out there.... I think my job is safe (cause I'm "important" hahahah...or not!)...seriously, I don't think I'll be getting laid off (crossing my fingers though)...

ReturnOfDOOK said:

Dude that sounds pretty foul....I lost on of the best jobs I ever had because of a layoff triggered by a ownership change....and so close to the hollidays too! Very crappy....

I thought layoffs weren't supposed to happen, but I guess I didn't think about what the new owners would do.

I work for Target Corp. It's been somewhat pins and needles here since we announced we were putting Mervyns and Fields up for sale. Of course, it had been speculated we'd sell them for about the last 5-7 years or so. But they just kept saying oh, no, it won't happen. I watched a lot of folks lose jobs or get moved around the company since about January. Not sweeping layoffs, really, but we also closed down our catalog business so a lot of folks kinda got displaced with that. no fun.

CarrieMpls said:

Our new owners are an investment group that owns Media Play, Sam Goody, Anchor Blue, Suncoast Motion Picture Comp and a few others and they specialize in turning business around (which Mervyn's is desperately in need of). I think there's going to be some restructuring around the office since our structure is different than a lot of other successful retailers. I've been with the company for 3 years so I have a lot of merchandise planning experience so I'm pretty confident that if my job is eliminated, I'll still be able to find a job within the company. We'll see though. It's definitely a little scary.
[Edited 10/28/04 20:32pm]

After 150 people , I think I would start looking before the axe comes down. Don't ever think your job is safe.

It seems to be happening everywhere

Dear God...
The economy is SO bad... I hope it changes for the better soon!

applekisses said:

Yes and no. Our company is running comp-store increaes from last year so we're doing WELL. Our owners are just looking to streamline our processes to make more money - I can't blame them. They just purchased us and are trying to get us to be a dominant force in the middle market again. I feel terrible about the layoffs since I knew some of the people that did get laid off (mind you there are 1300 people that work at headquarters with me...). But, the company IS doing well and this should help us to continue to improve. It's really really sad though

ReturnOfDOOK said:

That surprises me because I've heard that a lot of Mervyn's stores are closing.

applekisses said:

We've only closed 8 stores and those were all up in Minnesota - we never caught on up there so it made sense to close them. But, business as a whole (I see company sales every day) are great right now and getting better....Again, we're probably gonna close crappy stores, but it makes sense if those particular stores just aren't performing.