A few months ago I wrote that Sneaker Retail Managers are the real MVPs of the sneaker industry. This post is going to ramble a bit because I’m frustrated, nervous and angry about the things happening in the sneaker industry right now. Here is the post on Retail Managers:
Sneaker Retail Managers are the Real MVPs of the Industry During COVID-19
This could be written about any industry working through the pandemic and this post is being written for everyone who is dealing with the mental fatigue setting in as the constant adjustments to COVID-19 regulations arrive on almost a daily basis.
Retail managers, stockroom teams and sales leads are tired. I fear that many of them are going to have a form of retail PTSD when the pandemic winds down. There will be an exodus of retail managers from the sneaker industry when this is over.
I made the bold choice of beginning work again a few weeks ago. When I first ventured out of the house I expected to speak to managers who would talk of low sales and numbers no where near on par with previous years. What I encountered instead were stores wiped clean of inventory and with sales that almost recouped the losses during the 3 month shut down. On the surface this seems like a good thing. The reality is store managers are operating in a world that formerly only showed its head during tax time. They are operating with hours that require them to be at their stores from open to close.
I’m moving too fast.
Retail managers and store workers should be paid hazard pay until the pandemic is under control. If they don’t I predict in the next three months a rash of managers quitting their jobs contributing to a serious issue for sneaker retail.
I’m about to get really offensive here, but I can say this. I don’t work for anyone.
The tax time consumer purchases without any thought of the future. The influx of cash allows for a feeling of self worth because the ability to buy without constraints is readily available. All stores expect to see a bump in traffic and sales and they adjust accordingly at tax time. Stores hire extra sales floor help; and assistant managers, district managers and managers all work together to give each other a reprieve during this sales period.
What happens when tax time arrives during a pandemic? The stimulus checks and unemployment has been bigger than tax time for some demographics. This has led to an extended tax period for the consumer and for retail. The problem is the pandemic,
- Cut store hours from 11 – 7. That’s a full day and this requires the manager to work longer hours.
- Masks policies have led to constant aggressive behavior from consumers.
- The lack of any other activities being available has made the mall and retail visits more prominent.
- The shutdown slowed shipping and stores have a lack of “hot” inventory causing frustration with consumers because they are aware that drops are still happening online and the consumer thinks the stores are lying.
- The tax time consumer is emboldened. Because in some instances they have more money than before and store etiquette isn’t important, and because sales leads are utilizing social distancing when working with customers, people walk between transactions and force shoes into a sales lead or manager’s face.
- The children don’t have on face covers and they cough, and yell, and the parents have no sense of boundaries.
Offended yet? You should be because all of this has been about “urban” sneaker stores which is coded language for Black sneaker shops. Most Foot Lockers, City Gear Stores, Jimmy Jazz Stores and Finish Line Stores… all stores operate in locations where the consumer is primarily Black. I live in Memphis which is in a Tri-State area of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Each of these states is on the list for the highest number of new COVID-19 cases and who has been most at risk of contracting COVID-19?
The number that stands out here is the percentage of COVID deaths that occurred among Black Americans. Blacks constitute about 13% of the U.S. population but suffered 23% of all COVID deaths. ACSH
I can’t speak towards what’s happening at primarily White retail locations, but I know for a fact that my peers are going through hell right now and I fear that many of them are going to forego the time they’ve placed into working at these companies and walk away from immediate income and eventual retirement opportunities. I fear that those who stay will encounter a similar form of PTSD to what military or abused people experience. At the beginning of this post I stated that retail workers should get hazardous duty pay for the extent of this pandemic because it’s clear that people are not staying at home. I’ve stopped going out again as Memphis has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases. I won’t get a chance to speak to my friends at the stores. I will text and send my well wishes and like my fellow veterans I’ll hope that they can handle the mental issues that will undoubtedly become a part of their new normal.
Sneaker retail, if you don’t provide services and pay for your employees I think there will be repercussions in the form of class action lawsuits as this winds down.
