So what is going to happen to the visual managers and their staff? We do a ton of work and I know in my store not one colleague or manager understands my job.
31 replies (most recent on top)
Will be VMs be offered positions in the store or just laid off?
Mannequin
The stores have looked like a flea market, actually worse, for some time now. Visual has tried their best and does a good job in most regards. It depends on what store you look at. The customer side presentations look great, but the back side is the mess. But again maybe not the VMs or team fault as Visual never did have enough room where I worked (several different stores). The fitting rooms were always full of clothes of the floor (with the nasty never cleaned carpets) and the rest of the store had the Bargain Basement look(like an F5 tornado hit). Never enough staff to assist in cleaning up and the district bosses knew it but still reamed the store for looking like c-ap.
Bottom line - someone in an office far far away was making decisions that they had no idea about.
Good luck all
This sounds like it going to be a popularity contest to get the position. We all know it's never based on talent and hard work.
exactly. get the Negative Nancy's and Karen's OUT THE DOOR. we have enough Karen customers as is. #B....BeGone
All of the people who are hating on visual will be the first to start complaining when the stores all start to look like a cheap flea market. Why? Because complaining is their favorite activity. They are miserable people with sad lives who have nothing better to do with their free time than try to bring other people down. Every store has them. I for one am looking forward to being free of their incessant whining and negativity.
Stop being a Karen and stop b–ching about everything. Back in the day when I was in stores, the visual manager was the highest exec person after store manager (and EIC of course). When we would do floor walks with DVP for deep dive visits , the DVP always seemed to get Visual director’s opinion over anyone else’s. DDV also gave strategic direction to the District Merchants and their hard working Visual Managers. If we lose vm’s in store we will look like goodwill (per below post). Store managers cannot do it all. They look up to visual managers to make their store look visually presentable.
To the rude poster below, take your Karen attitude to Walmart. Thanks!
@2oqu+15wtKBqc Oh I’m sorry do you work for a boutique store or a chain that pushes Karen Scott and Charter Club?? I could put a flaming dumpster next to those tables and guess what?? Nana is still going to come buy them.
@2oqu+15wtKBqc Oh I’m sorry do you work for a boutique store or a chain that pushes Karen Scott and Charter Club?? I could put a flaming dumpster next to those tables and guess what?? Nana is still going to come buy them.
hey 2eda+15wtKBqc that's so cute you think our job is like a sticker book!
Wow without the visual managers we are going to look like the Goodwill for God sake. Plus with them gone who's going to turn all that ugly c-ap we get into something the customer would want to buy?? No help for Karen Scott now.
Visual?? I used to get those sticker books as a child and I was darn good at it. How’s that different from
Sticking decals to a wall that come In premade? Asking for a friend... thanks
My visual manager the other day was complaining about putting the 6 ft decals on the floor, would’ve thought we asked her to paint the cathedral.
Hey @1euw+15wtKBqc love to see you arrange those deck chairs! You know in-between reading reports walking black box with sms, checking in the million pieces of beauty collateral, planning workload, setting projects, changing mannequins, running the vinyl machine, attending leadership, dealing with vendors, painting walls, building displays, doing floor plans, making sure we have ADA, waiting on customers, doing floor moves and making sure the store standards are being kept. Oh and that's just on a slow day and by yourself as a lot of do not have a staff.
😂😂😂😂 the VM "artistes" at work 😂😂😂😂😂
You forgot use design review, read and react to reports, wait on customers, paint walls and other general maintenance, and sadly watch all the standards decay as there is no one to keep them up
Hey @1euw+15wtKBqc HI THERE!!!
I want to see you dress mannequins in super cute outfits that sell off the floor! Oh, and while you're at it, create, design and print vinyl logos, build window displays, map out floor moves, hang wallpaper, position runway displays, hang collateral, etc etc.
And then do it all on steroids for holiday!
OK? Go!
The thing about visual, is that it's more than just technical skill. Really good visual requires creativity and artistry that you cannot learn – it's a natural ability you are born with. Most people in visual have art or design degrees. Can you draw? Design? Paint? Style clothes? Probably not.
I say this also knowing that a lot of visual people at Macy's aren't all that great – let's be real, talented people with ambition don't stick around Macy's long because they know their worth and don't tolerate such low pay.
Coming from someone who has never been a visual manager, I can tell you that they do A LOT OF WORK no matter what store you're in (growth vs. neighborhood). In Stores, AST, Visual, and MTM's ahve the most demanding jobs...even though all the jobs are important.
It will be really hard to see visual go under a "Merchandising" position.... looping Visual, Merchandising, Loss Prevention, Operations under 1 personis a JOKE...Are you kidding me?!?
Why is that visual people always think that NO ONE can do their job. It's retail, not brain surgery. Everyone understands your job, we just don't all have the time to rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic.
We all know what happened when Penney’s combined visual and merchandising...they never recovered. So now Macy’s will look like Kohl’s or Sears. It’s sad to see that happen. I love my job and I will miss it tremendously. But the writing is on the wall.
My SM already pulled us into a room and asked us to rank the 8030 team without telling us what’s going on. They also asked if my visual colleague could merchandise the floor, I heard the captain titles are when they get rid of sale supervisors and sales leads. All this limbo they are leaving us in s—s.
What’s coming up will probably the most difficult event we’ve experienced in our careers. Visual Merchandising was the last store’s support pyramid to roll-up to Central. It’s been rumored of combining with Merchandising for years, but Covid Crisis has just accelerated this as the company is being made to take drastic payroll cuts to align with the massive loss of business. Who receives these new combined “Ops/Visual/Merchandising” Manager positions will be those with future growth potential, a proven “global” player, and proven leadership skills. Larger stores will most likely have more than one of these new positions, so hopefully VM’s in high profile/high volume might have a better chance of remaining. For those in the twilight of their careers, including MTM’s, Ops, etc. most won’t have a place in the new structure. Store visual staff (in the doors that still have it) we’re ranked and most likely the top ranking will be offered the new visual “captain” role. Will be interesting if there is any type of national “goodbye” visual call as the role many of us have known for years comes to an end.
With these "captain" positions what will the pay cap be? Most leads have already been capped out for years.
Wow this is nuts! I know alot of visual managers that can do the mtm job and have when we get left without one but a RTM doing our job REALLY?? You can't even get anyone to change the beauty collateral when you are on vacation! Visual managers know alot more then we are given credit for. Seriously we do more then just hang red balls guys! If the store manages are choosing who stays and who goes you better hope you have a good relationship with them or it sounds like you're screwed!!
Visual staff is eliminated as well. All support leads gone to. The new "MTM/VISUAL/OP " managers will have "Captains" ...Visual Captain, Recieving Captain, Merchandise Captain etc.... there is a hourly pay cap and it is very low.... Welcome to the MAGIC of Macy's.
Visual people do a lot of work, not just putting up red balls. I do not envy that job of combining 3 jobs to 1... visual, ops/lp, and merchandising. Would you be getting more $ ? I I doubt it. I will have a lot of respect for someone accepts that job. I wouldn’t take it though. It is literally impossible I don’t care if you’re from a neighborhood or growth store.
😂😂😂 the only thing that pops into my head when I think of VM's is those red balls 😂😂😂
I have heard it will be a hunger games situation where the VM, MTM and OPAM will all compete for a new combined position. Everyone has already been ranked, highest ranking gets the job....all the rest get laid off. So if your a VM who only knows visual I would start looking for a new job.
Good luck to anyone whose job it becomes to hang all of those big red balls for holiday! LOLZ
The visual staff stay.
Report to the MTMs.
The rest of visual in the stores to be laid off. Visual Managers and District Visual or what they call it now
Amen to that! Good luck with that workload if our job is no longer important!
lol okay
Second that