LoveSac took its store-within-a-store concept south of the border as part of a deal with Sears Mexico and from the moment we arrived we knew Mexico was ready for the Sac. Our mission: open 30 locations across Mexico in two weeks. Mission accomplished? Nope – not even close. But it was a big moment in the life of LoveSac and when the dust settled we had lots to be proud of. Check it out…
Mexico City has 20 Million people – it is massive. It is not possible to get anywhere in a short amount of time. Riding through the streets of Mexico City is an experience – the crazier your driver the safer you feel. Only the strong survive so everyone drives aggressively and the result is we only saw one accident in two weeks. Viva Mexico!
Step one for the roll-out was to stage the product that would be used in the 30 store displays. We needed to cover 500 bases, 700 sides, fluff 120 Sacs and assemble 30 rocker frames, divide up the inventory for each store and then ship everything out. That’s maybe two hours worth of work – or perhaps a little more. Arriving at the first Sears warehouse we walked past shotgun-wielding security guards, were frisked and then handed giant signs to wear around our necks which indicated we were visitors. To be fair, this is the process for everyone. Security at the warehouses is no joke which prompted Adam to point out warehouses in the US have no security and we should make a plan to rob them. It’s a fair point but we're not investing in ski masks just yet. Adam also believes everyone should have a passport handy just in case you need to flee the country. The bottom-line is that if you have criminal thoughts please contact Adam and he can help you craft a plan and an escape. At the end of Day 1 we had all the bases covered and 30 Rockers frames built - not too shabby.
On Day 2 we moved to Sears’ second warehouse where most of our product lived and the Sac fluffing frenzy took place. When we were finished we had a sea of Sacs. Andy handed out responsibilities to the warehouse team, Damian and Adam worked with a team organizing the product and Alex was pounding on his Blackberry because that’s all Alex does. Sometimes he yells in to his Blackberry to mix things up. Friday morning Alex decided he wanted to pound on his Blackberry while wearing a uniform so he flew home to spend the weekend at Army, promising to return to with two new bodies.
The Sears Mexico warehouse team (pictured at left) were up to the challenges Andy handed out. In fact, Andy went about running this mission with reckless abandon, giving no thought to his own physical well-being. Inevitably, it wasn't long before he suffered a life-threatening injury which imperiled the entire roll-out. The posted image of Andy's injury isn't for the weak, it shows in bloody-detail the dangers of failing to adhere to basic safety principles such as not cutting toward yourself with a box cutter. It was a needless tragedy and it is LoveSac's hope that further accidents can be avoided. Luckily a crack medical team was on hand to administer first-aid and Andy survived his brush with death.
Staging the product for 30 stores is a labor-intensive process but over the first three days we made significant progress:
But the pallets started to take shape:
It took more than two hours (closer to four days) but we had the display product ready to go – except for the covers and art that was tied up in customs. No problemo, full speed ahead. We modified the plan to set up the displays with available product and then return to put covers on and hang art. How simple is that?
And now for an Intermission...
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