Store Closed For Employees’ Personal Business
By George Anderson
A department store in Wichita, Kan. is unique in an age of 24/7 shopping where consumers can get virtually anything they want either in a store or online.
Von Maur, unlike the stores it competes with, closes for business on big retailing holidays such as Labor Day and even during special Sunday evening shopping events run at its mall — Towne East Square.
James Heggen, store manager, Von Maur said company policy is employees do not have to work additional hours on holidays.
He told the Wichita Eagle the policy was built on the company’s “strong family values.”
Moderator’s Comment: Are there any lessons to be learned from the Von Maur department store’s policy regarding working holidays and extended hours?
We talk a lot about customer service in this space and how it seems to deteriorate more with each passing year. Among the many factors attributed to this
decline is the lack of good people going into retail as a career. Perhaps the pool of exceptional candidates would improve if they knew, as Von Maur employees apparently do, that
they could be home with their family on holidays and not asking for a price check on an item that won’t scan. [George
Anderson – Moderator]