Motherhood Maternity

With working in a maternity store you had a short period of time to work with your customers.  By that I mean they are only pregnant for 9 months so our interaction was short yet fun because we were able to walk expectant mothers through the process of being pregnant and giving them fashion advise for this small but important demographic community.

My job as the manager was training my staff to work with these ladies and understand that they are different from the average shopper.  Their needs are different and we needed to be aware of that on a constant bases. 

I also did the merchandising of the store as the floor plan dictated, however I made store based decisions on what was best for my location. 

The staff was also trained on floor set because I am a strong believer in knowing I cant be there 24/7 so my staff was taught how to do the floor set.

I also believed in training for succession as my goal was to move up in the company and I wanted a trained staff to continue running the store.

I enjoyed training and coaching my staff, especially the staff that hadn't experienced being pregnant.

The hardest part of the job was the company was American owned and the laws in the US and Canada are different so it was a challenge when the Canadian stores were being governed by US policies.

The day would start with me opening the cash register & then preparing for opening the doors. Customer service is the top priority so in between clients I would do Internet orders, receive stock, unpack stock, ticket stock, place stock into the appropriate areas of the floor, merchandise the store, set up goals & expectations for each team member, do spot check inventories & work on up coming schedules. Each team member was to receive a chat in at the beginning of their shift & then a chat out at the end of their shift. Mondays we had a conference call, stock & banking, Wednesday we did stock, price changes & signage changes, Thursday was all Visual changes & sometimes stock, Friday was another banking day plus stock, Saturday & Sunday was to be all about selling to our clients plus on Sundays payroll had to be sent in. The upper management in the company went through a lot of changes so the communication was not always accurate at times which I found was the hardest part of the job. I learned to just go with what was best for the store & the clients. Dealing with the variety of clients was the most enjoyable part of the job.

Worked here for years with promise of advancement. 

Was given advancement opportunities with goals to achieve. Once the goals were hit, there would be a reason as to why the advancement was no longer an option. 

Example "Surpass your sales goal for 3 months and keep your UPT at 3.1 and we will move you to 4th to train as a manager."
target hit and would be held for 4 months instead of 3, would inquire as to when it would happen and the reason could range from anything like "the manager quit, there is no one to train you" to "oh, there is no need for training for you". My favorite was "thats great you did it, but it may have been a fluke, keep it up for another 2 months and we will see."

Did this to me three times before I left. 

They then closed most of the locations shortly afterwards so I lucked out I guess. 

Oh and they will give you full time hours but list your job title as a part time employee which really screws with you. 

I had to make a WCB claim but even though I was working 40 hours/week and could prove it with pay stubs & schedules since my job description was for a part time employee, the government sided with them and wouldn't pay me.

Be careful of what position you are applying for. Sales Associates were expected to perform Keyholder duties (all the while receiving the pay of a sales associate). You will be opening/closing the store on your own. If you don't have good time management skills, this will most likely be difficult for you. Management will most likely take all of the opening shifts, leaving sales associates to close on their own. The hardest part of the job is you are not to multi-task. Company believes that "customers are always number one". Now this is extremely difficult because you have things that will need to be completed all during open hours. e.g "markdowns, promo changes, visual changes, etc". Management will be difficult to deal with because of favouritism and constant micro-managing. Oh yeah, the store manager will constantly leave the store... leaving the responsibility to sales associates to make sales. Overall a real lousy company and location. My advice is to not waste your time here, you will get paid a lot more elsewhere.

Typical day was opening the store, and making sure it was clean and visually ready for business. Always checked what tasks needed to be done on specific days and met all deadlines. I learnt how to be sensitive to pregnant women, and make sure all team members knew correct information to give them for sizes to buy for their trimester and looking at what they needed for the hospital, and their Nursing needs, if they planned on Nursing. Great environment to work in. One of the best parts of the job was when customers would come back after their baby was born to show us the baby and get their Nursing clothes. They always came back, and said oh my gosh you are still here you helped me with my first or second child. I remembered most of my customers. Great communication with my District Manager and my Country Manager. I will miss working for Motherhood Maternity, it was a great experience. Good luck to everyone, and all the best for 2020

Days vary. Can be busy but at other times can be very slow. Store is usually relaxed about down times and what you do as long as all other duties required of you are finished before end of shift . Learn a lot about clientele and product . Store managers and TSLs can be amazing but it is rare depending on location. Corporate managers are horrible and lazy. Don't do their jobs at all. Coworkers are usually pretty awesome. Hardest part of the job is trying to do your job while corporate changes everything in your store in a flash, literally a day or two, and don't help to try to continue operating smoothly. Other hard thing is dealing with a lot of unexperienced people who are lazy and don't want to do their job. Be thankful for the few people around you who do know. Most enjoyable thing was the overall atmosphere in the stores. Good vibes off the families, store managers, coworkers, and TSLs.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Making mothers to be feel and look great. And knowing what each product was better for.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Getting comfortable approaching people .you never know what reaction they will have

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very fun exciting and never knowing what kind of day lays ahead

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Depending some days we had stock to put away so would get that out first. And then fold what was needed while caring for customers. Redoing layouts

Motherhood Maternity gives chances to entry level workers and students. I gained valuable experience, learnt new skills and was a part of an excellent team who were always ready to help each other.
The most enjoyable part of my job was to interact with the customers, find out their needs and helping them find the right product.The hardest part of the job was that I had to travel a great distance everyday. Overall my experience working with  Motherhood Maternity had been extremely positive. The hardest part

There are many times throughout the week that I am left alone to open the store, or for multiple hours in the evening before closing. I must count the till in the morning, file emails and daily memos, provide excellent customer service on a first-name basis with the client, ensure general housekeeping of the store, balance the cash till at night and place deposit in the safe, nightly call-in to the district manager, close and lock store.

I was so glad  to working at motherhood Maternity, I learned a lot , customer service was our priority,friendly environment , learn product knowledge , compete budget over expectations, Do floor plans as company visual guide lines . Keep Maintain the store clean and tidy . 

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