I worked for WSI years ago a couple different times – from 2002-2005/6 at Pottery Barn, and then again in 2016/17 at Pottery Barn Kids in both general personnel and management positions.

During that time, as employees, we saw a great decline in the quality of products (ex: switching from solid wood to veneers) in order to boost profitability. We also saw that having regular sales became the norm to bring in paying customers. This practice became so prevalent that we found customers would demand discounts when they weren’t being offered, or would simply say they would wait until the next offering to make their purchases. In the later years, more and more responsibility was being pushed onto general managers to bring in business to their specific stores with little to no help from corporate. Management changes were regular, and employees were expendable which decreased morale. The feeling of simply doing enough to keep your job became the standard work ethic. Also, the practice of introducing new merchandise seasonally which in previous years was an exciting time (always nice to see new products) became uneventful when they would simply reuse designs from previous years with only a smattering of new products. Customers noticed, and sales were hard to come by. Payroll was slim and at my store which had previously been managed by a team of six, was reduced to three thru attrition and regular employees were promoted to “key holders” to fill in the gaps.

It’s sad to see that a once thriving company seems to be struggling with no clear path to returning to their hay day. I’d love to hear your take!

Love the channel!!