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Dispensing metro chic In the 1970s, Richard Hayne struck gold with a simple concept: establish a retail outlet for the previously overlooked market of 18- to 30-year-old urban trendsetters. Opened in 1970 as a small used clothing store catering to University of Pennsylvania students, Hayne's company is now a rapidly growing enterprise with its finger on the pulse of Generation X trends. The company went public in 1993. A shrewd businessman, Hayne spends about $4 million in salaries and expenses each year on his elite army of "fashion spies" - 75 clothes-conscious people who watch for the latest trends in hip locales like Soho in New York and Covent Garden in London - and gets his money's worth. The company's stealthy trend-spotting has continuously improved sales over the past decade, including a 21 percent climb in its 1999 fiscal year. Watch the Urban sprawl Today, the Philadelphia-based company boasts three main types of retail outlets - Urban Outfitters, Urban Retail, and Anthropologie - in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Urban Retail, which accounts for about 75 percent of the company's sales, specializes in men's and women's casual wear, footwear, gifts, and apartment accessories. The recently-established Anthropologie line targets 25- to 45-year-old suburban women, and is enjoying enhanced sales through its catalog. Anthropologie's main merchandise includes casual wear and housewares. The company's third operating arm, Wholesale, manufacturers clothing delivered to and sold at over 2,000 specialty stores across the country. With 37 U.S. stores currently open and four more on the way before the end of 2000, Urban Outfitters has locations in every major American city. Not satisfied with the States, the company has been adding locations in Ireland and Scotland and is looking at additional sites in England. There are 15 Anthropologie stores in the nation.
Urban Outfitters hires at all of its regional locations. Corporate positions are filled through the Philadelphia headquarters, which accepts resumes by regular mail and fax. Insiders say applicants should exhibit "a belief in the company's ideas, and its future." The company hires most often in its Programming, Buying, and Loss Prevention Departments. Urban Outfitters is committed to internal promotion; many corporate employees began working for the company at an Urban Outfitters retail outlet.
Everyone's free for chat "I love it," is the most common feeling that Urban Outfitters employees have for the jobs that they perform. Employees praise Urban Outfitters for "constantly stressing communication" and for an "open-door policy" that extends throughout the management ranks. Even the "hands-on and social" CEO earns high marks from his employees. "The president of the company is great," says one insider, "He is out there, searching for his clientele, trying to get to know them, understand them, and cater and sell to them." Another insider notes of the corporate higher-ups, "They have great ethics, and truly appreciate their employees." Urban Outfitters is a "fast-paced," "rapidly growing" company, where the internal promotion policy is creating "new career opportunities every month." Mobile paychecks Corporate employees typically work 40 to 45 hours a week in a "hip," "low-stress" environment that "becomes frantic" during key seasons. One insider reports, "Working at Urban is fun, but it is very hard work, and can be very stressful depending on your position." But hefty hours don't always translate to hefty paychecks. Most say the company's salaries "won't set you on fire," but add that Urban Outfitters gives "frequent raises." One insider notes, "One thing to keep in mind about retail, is you'll never see your first million, unless you are the president that came up with the idea back in 1976."
Human Resources
Clothing;Housewares;Wholesale distributing
Abercrombie & Fitch;Benetton;Dayton Hudson;Esprit de Corp.;Euromarket Designs;Guess?;Pacific Sunwear More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
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