Mornings At Kohl’s – Gilroy Crossing
Z picked up a new white camisole at Kohl’s last week as a late birthday present. For some reason she got a size too large (yes, even after trying it on and no, I wasn’t with her at the time). We didn’t have time to take it back last weekend, but since I was driving down to Gilroy to drop her and her little brother off at school I figured I’d do it then. I was very pleased to see that Kohl’s opens bright and early at 8:00 in the morning. Most of my retail jobs were in malls, so I always assume stores open at 10am (outside of the Christmas season, of course).
Anyway, I pulled up around 8:15 and seemed to be the only customer in the store. The nice cashier at the front directed back to the customer service area which, for some reason, is located in the very back of the store. As an aside, doesn’t it seem a poor plan to have people carrying bags and receipts thru the entire store before returning stuff?
As I approached my goal a pleasant young clerk named Christine asked if I had a return and accompanied me back to her register in the back. I pulled the cami out of the bag it was in, informed her it was a gift, I had no receipt, and the tag had been taken off – though I had it with me. Since I only wanted an exchange for a different size, none of these potential problems were actual problems.
The exchange quickly and courteously handled, I headed back to the front of the store to carry on with my day. As I passed through the ‘foyer’ area at the front of the store I had to work my way around the store meeting that was occurring. Now, I did years in retail and not once did we have a store meeting on the floor while the store was open. Store business should never be handled in front of customers. Particularly when part o fthat store business isberating employees and/or talking about losses in the store.
This wasn’t a problem for me – in fact, I found it rather interesting – but I can see how it would be a turnoff for many and don’t understand why they couldn’t have the meetings 5 to 10 minutes before the store opens instead of after.
Tags: clothing, customer service, Gilroy, Gilroy Crossing, Kohl's, Retail
