This will be my 7th year touring all of the LoveSac stores on what we at LoveSac call: Operation Front Line, 2009. After running the first LoveSac store day in and day out for months before we began to open more and build the company, I decided that I never wanted to get shut up in the office and lose touch with the customers who have made this company great. Not to mention our AMAZING Sac'rs who are out on the front lines making the sales, paying the bills, and who are ultimately responsible for LoveSac's success. So each year, just before the Holidays, I get out on the road and (mostly) drive to all of the LoveSac stores in the country. From LA to Boston, with each stop I am reminded of just how special our products are in our customer's lives and how great our band of young, capable, hard-working Sac'rs are at running this biz. [ABOVE LEFT: Natick MA LoveSac crew. RIGHT: Kyle & John, Sac users for years who now own Sactionals with multiple Covers]. BTW, COME FIND ME ON OP FRONT LINE AND SAY "SHAWNY D. SHOW ME THE MONEY,".....I'LL HOOK YOU UP.
This year, with so much going on, I will only make it to 2/3 of our stores before Christmas, but plan to catch the rest in the spring. [ABOVE LEFT: Bridgewater NJ crew]
At each stop I make sure that I'm not just dropping in to say "Hi" and point out shortcomings. I get to know every Sac'r by name, see who really tears it up and where our next Market Managers might be in the system! I work the store floor for hours, try to get my fair share of helping customers. I actually do the sales training while working the floor, with real customers; no role-playing here. They watch, I work. I usually make a sale or two and spend every other moment working with the store managers on merchandising training and setting their store right. [RIGHT: Columbia MD Sac'rs at the end of the 12 hour training. LEFT: Tyson's Corner D.C. crew - top selling LS staff!]
Each stop presents something new. I've wired lights, painted, re-located fixtures, hung posters, done light construction work...whatever needs doing. A typical "Front Line" day begins at 10am, sometimes noon, and runs until midnight, with all of the sit-down, hardcore training done after the store closes. We end the night by making ridiculous videos which live in infamy on the back walls of every LoveSac store and on the web forever, in the form of the LoveSac Store videos which you'll see playing in every one of our stores. Most customer's favorite part of these videos are the sections made by the Sac'rs on the Front Line visits....some better planned than others. I usually then drive on to my next location to the wee hours in the morning, wake up and do it again.
At each stop I take a new sidekick with me - usually a Manager or Assistant Manager from some other LoveSac market, with the purpose of getting to know them and further develop their skills at the Sac. They also work the floor when I'm back de-briefing the staff on the customer I just helped. I think it is always good for them to see other stores, other Managers, other ways of doing things. [RIGHT & LEFT BELOW: the new look of LoveSac, 2009 Columbia MD] NOBODY is too good at LoveSac to get their hands dirty, paint, clean, scrape, unload, setup, and go unil Midnight--or sometimes work for days straight, if necessary.
That is just our culture: this laid back, easy-going, fun company whose "laid back" people actually work harder, go longer, and are more capable than any other store in the mall....period. I love these guys. It is these people to whome we owe our deepest gratitude and respect. I dedicate this and every Front Line Tour I'll ever make to those who are really running this company, the Sac'rs on the Front Lines.
-- Shawny D.
BTW, COME FIND ME ON OP FRONT LINE AND SAY "SHAWNY D. SHOW ME THE MONEY,".....I'LL HOOK YOU UP WITH A LOVESAC GIFT CARD. Noon to Midnight... Nov 20th: Westroads, Omaha NE. Nov 22: Dallas Galleria, TX. Nov 23: Stonebriar, TX. Nov 29: Gateway Mall, SLC, UT. Nov 30: Northridge Mall, CA. Dec 1: Glendale Galleria, CA. Dec 2: Tyler Galleria, CA. Dec 6: Arizona Mills, Tempe AZ. Dec 7: Sunset Galleria, Henderson, NV. Dec 8: Layton Hills Mall, UT. Dec 10: Lenox, Atlanta GA. Dec 11: Mall of GA, Atlanta GA.
Is THIS Sexist??? comment & win
A few posts previous there were all kinds of great comments on our Mother's Day artwork. Some loved it, finding it cute, fun, and interesting; others absolutely hated it, finding it sexist, in poor taste, and offensive. Here we go again with our Father's Day ad...Is THIS one sexist??? Comment here.
ABOVE is our Dad's and Grad's ad and window poster celebrating father's day and graduation! This is hanging in every store window now. The Sac/Squatt Cover package that goes along with this art has over 300,000 stitches in a straight-stitch embroidery using 3 colors of black, purple, blue thread making up its unique "inked" design. This is the first ever Sac of its kind. But in this case, it is the ad/poster I am asking about. What do you think? Love it? Hate it? ALL comments are welcome, and the 3 comments that I like best (the funniest, most thoughtful or well-argued comments), will win THEIR choice of an Easter Phur Cover worth over $300 (Super, Movie, or CitySac) from our last Limited Edition Line, OR a $50 in-store gift card. All comments due by Monday, June 1st. I'll annonce a winner by June 5th.
PS: Hats off to designer Alex Hinton from Salt Lake City, UT - the baddest ink artist in the land. (That is NOT him pictured above)
I look forward to hearing what you have to say! Don't hold back, either way.
-- Shawny D.