Monday, April 20th – Product for 13 Mexico City locations had shipped and the remaining 17 stores were staged. Alex returned, as promised, joined by Ezra and Mike. Damian and Adam headed back to the good ol’ USA with the satisfaction of a job well done.
Andy, Ezra, Mike and Alex met with Alejandro to begin setting up stores. The plan was to set up four locations on Monday. (Didn’t Robert Burns write something about the best laid plans?) In order to pull off a project like this there is a tremendous amount of preparation required so that you can arrive and realize that preparation is a waste of time.
Based on the best information available Shawny D laid out three different floor plans (330/sf, 440/sf, 540/sf) which showed display product, configurations and where to hang the art. No one merchandises like Shawny D which meant set-up would go quickly – just follow the plan – allowing more time for training. As luck would have it not a single store provided a space that came close to matching the square footage we planned on. Instead of laying out one store 30 times it became clear we would lay out 30 stores one time. Booyah!
(Editor’s note: We’re LoveSac. We work hard. We do not get discouraged. A standard LoveSac situation is FUBAR. You can sleep when you’re dead)
As the day wore on it became clear that we would only complete one location. (At left, L - R, Andy, Alejandro, Ezra and Mike survey their handiwork). Following the first set-up we needed to return to the warehouse to ensure that product for the other 17 locations was ready to ship so that we could perform set-ups outside of Mexico City by Thursday. Tired and frustrated from a long first day we expected the worst at the warehouse, only to be greeted by the scene pictured below:
Our former Sea of Sacs was not bare floor on the left were dozens of pallets ready to for transportation. The trucks were loaded that evening and it was clear Andy and Alex could plan travel to Monterrey for Thursday.
The day ended with a visit to a location to scout the location and determine how much product would fit. This visit led to the high point of the trip only 24 hours later.
As Monday drew to a close we had one store set-up and trained. That left 29 stores to complete in one week – what could possibly go wrong?
By 9am the first store was finished (pictured right). Splitting in to two teams and heading in opposite directions Alex & Andy were driven along the “scenic” route by a cab driver while Alejandro, Mike and Ezra raced off to start setting up another store. Alex and Andy made one stop – the store wasn’t prepared in any way for the set up – so they left immediately and went to Polanco. As the day went on two more locations were completed and both teams reunited finish a fourth location. At 8:30pm Team LoveSac arrived at Lindavista for the final set-up. The store closed at 9pm - no exceptions. A kick-ass performance, with packaging flying, led to a complete set-up 9:02pm at which point security escorted us out. Apparently store staff isn’t paid by the hour. With lessons learned from the first set-up a goal of five stores was set for Tuesday. Not accustomed to LoveSac hours Alejandro was relieved to learn we wouldn’t start until 9am on Tuesday. To clarify, HE wouldn’t start until 9am on Tuesday. Andy, Mike, Ezra and Alex started at 7am at the Centro Historico location. It was still dark when we left the hotel and we saw a lovely sight (pictured left); a sliver moon with a planet or bright star just below.
With a full head of steam from Tuesday we promptly ran in to a brick wall. More product arrived at the warehouse (the missing art and covers which were held at customs for an extended period) and we needed to return to sort it. Only two stores were completed on Wednesday which left Ezra, Mike and Alejandro with Thursday and Friday to complete the remaining five stores in Mexico city, finish sorting the just-received product and train the locations. Alex & Andy decided to get out of town and head to Monterrey Thursday morning to set up five locations and then head over to Torreon to finish one more before flying back to Mexico City Saturday night. When all is said and done there is less focus in Mexico on meeting at specific times - the emphasis is on personal relationships, know who you're doing business with. As Americans we try like hell to be on time and don't care at all about the people involved. The final count for Tuesday: five stores completed in 14 hours with travel accounting for 1/3 of our day. The one lowlight of the day was to learn about a serious problem affecting Mexico City: headless child model (see picture at right). According to local experts the one child model who still has her head (left side of photo) will likely lose hers within the next two weeks. She may be headless as we write this. It breaks your heart.
Arriving in Torreon was welcome relief from the traffic and travel time in Mexico City. Getting between locations didn't take more than 30 minutes and each location was prepared for our arrival. The Monterrey Galleria (pictured left) sales team pitched in and we finished in two hours. With a little extra time before our pick-up we reflected on a few funny aspects of our new life setting up LoveSac in Sears Mexico.
For example, we met lots of friendly people. This woman couldn't keep her hands off me (right). Every time you exited a Sears Mexico you were frisked to ensure you weren't smuggling a Sactional base out. Entering the store we realized always meant a journey through ladies intimate apparel (left)
. Have we mentioned that we really missed our wives?
This small difference in cutlures led to lots of quality time waiting around which always made Alex happy - he loves to wait, knowing there is work to be done and the clock is ticking (right).
On day two in Monterrey we were joined by Antonio (pictured at left, in the middle between Alex and Andy), a young man who quickly learned the LoveSac line and how to set-up a location. Without Antonio we would not have been able to transform a space from this:
To this:
After the second day Alex and Andy decided that it was time to migle with the locals on a Friday evening and relax a little. Asking around we discovered a delightful restaurant which, as we understood it, is the best place in town to enjoy an authentic meal and expereince the friendly service that only a family-run business provides. Andy and Alex posed at the bar so they would always remember the fun evening they had. All attempts to translate the name of the restaurant (pictured above Andy's head) have failed but please take a look at the picture and post your best guess in the comments section. Thanks!
With Monterrey a success the road show carried on to Torreon. No commercial flights were available in the morning which necessitated renting a car for the anticipated 4 1/2 hour drive. What happened next shows how quickly things fall apart in the desert when behind the wheel of a French car which had a nasty habit of quitting every time we approached a Mercedes, VW or BMW. Roll footage:
Despite all odds Andy and Alex arrived in Torreon with two hours to set up, train and get to the airport for their flight back to Mexico City. By this point Andy was at another level - seizing control of the situation he built, trained and departed in the two available hours.
While vacationing in Monterrey Andy and Alex missed the first published articles regarding swine flu. Little did they know that Mexico City was now ground zero for a possible pandemic. The scene at the airport made clear that things were different.
Driving back to the hotel through empty streets on what should be a busy Saturday night cut down on travel time but certainly increased anxiety about what impact the swine flu might have.
Sunday was another off day as the team remained mostly at the hotel, venturing out for a quick meal and to take in the unfolding scene. With only two days to go the hope was that everyone would leave healthy.
Monday was the last full day of work and the mission was to return to locations that had painted their walls LoveSac gray and hang art. In order to present the LoveSac brand and merchandising Shawn came up with a scaled down version of our company-owned stores that included hanging large art on the walls. The finished result was, well, you be the judge:
As the dust settled on two weeks of work Andy, Ezra, Mike, Damian, Adam, Alejandro, Antonio and Alex could look back at a job well done. LoveSac rolled out 18 international locations and is now positioned for global expansion. Not too shabby.
While everyone worked hard there can only be one MVP and in a unanimous vote we're pleased to showcase the winner:
Congratulations Andy! You rocked the Sac.
Now about those other 12 locations...
I saw your other buses at a party in Cali on Huntington Beach. Super sick stuff. I like how your boys roll. Can't wait to see this one as well. How many buses you got lovesac?
Peace - Dann the Surf Mann
Posted by: Danniel Mann | 05/21/2009 at 03:59 AM