Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Five Below in Newtown is Closing This Week~





I’ve worked at my Five Below store for almost five years now.  Wow, time flies!!   

Thinking back to my earliest days at the Newtown store, when I thought it was a temporary position until I found a “real job” again; until now, when it has become a job I truly enjoy, the transformation in my thinking amazes me.  Life is weird that way I guess.  It brings you to a spot you never planned or expected and then you find it just might be the perfect place ~ a place you were meant to be.

Since I started working at the Five Below store in Newtown, I have had the pleasure of working with some amazing, hard-working, intelligent, thoughtful people.  From my first Manager, Lisa, who brought me in for the holidays as we were long time friends, to other managers from Richie, Megan, Kim, Brittany and John, my present Manager, I can’t begin to properly extol the virtues of these highly skilled people.  I know a lot of people don't think very highly of retail workers, but let me tell you, the talent, intelligence, hard work and personalities of each of these managers is at least as comparable as any of the very highly respected and well paid CEO’s and CFO’s of some of the other companies I have worked for previously.  They may not be given the high salaries and cushy comforts of those other positions, but they surely display the same insight and business acumen.

Managers at a retail store HAVE to be there.  They have to deal with and diffuse issues from difficult customers and irresponsible workers (not me of course.....haha) to finances, store maintenance issues, vender problems, staffing, and a myriad of other daily situations.  It amazes me the widespread and highly under appreciated talents these dedicated men and women utilize every single day.  While doing all of these tasks, they simultaneously have to schedule the store to run well with the hours allotted, they have to get shipment done, keep the store looking great, and make sure everyone is functioning in such a way as to give the store a glowing reputation.  They work long, long hours, weekends, nights, holidays…and through all of this, I have yet to work with a Manager at Five Below that didn’t excel at every aspect!  I don’t know if the hiring process is just that great or if Five Below just lucks out, but I have been honored and privileged to work with each and every Manager.

But, now, my store and my store alone, is closing due to circumstances surrounding the shopping center.  It is so sad.  Our customers have become true friends and they each come in with a story of how much they are going to miss us.  I know so many of them now ~ it’s such a warm, friendly relationship!  We greet each other with a cheery hello as through the years I have shared preparing for birthday parties, holidays, school starting, school ending…with them and their children!  I have watched their children grow from babies to now starting kindergarten!  They know I will go out of my way to help them and share a laugh and I know they will be happier when they shop with us than if they would go to some other big box store where they do not know or have any relationship with the sales associates.  Five Below truly appreciates their customers and they encourage their employees to show that appreciation.  I am proud to work for an organization that does this, it makes my day feel worthwhile and it allows me to be the helpful, kind lady at the store they all love so much.

I am truly emotional when I think about my last day at the store this Friday.  I have had the privilege of hugging many customers goodbye and they have promised to come see me and shop at my new store, the Five Below in Feasterville.  I am excited to be reunited with one of my previous managers, a true friend, a great worker and loving, wonderful woman, Megan.  It is the knowledge that I will be with her again that makes this whole experience that much better.  But, leaving my store (and I do consider it my store), leaving the customers, but mostly leaving the staff that has functioned as a close family, from Shane and Kayla, to Lisa and John…we have helped each other, laughed together, struggled together, boosted each other, and trusted in each other for quite some time now, leaving will be so hard.  We are a crazy, working family of sorts….I will miss each and every one of them.  I am glad everyone will remain employed with Five Below, they have not let any of us go, and because of that we will still be in touch.  I am very confident of that fact.

I suppose I am a very lucky lady as I have always found myself surrounded by caring, loving, wonderful people at work.  People who have become and remained enduring friends at each of my work experiences through the years.  I never expected that to be a benefit of working “outside the home” but it truly is one of the best.  I am grateful beyond my wildest dreams for the relationships I have built throughout my working life…from real estate, to Verispan, to Cognetx and now at Five Below.  I have learned so much from each and every company, from each and every person. 

Life changes all the time.  As I go to a new store, with many new co-workers and a new customer base, I will take with me all I have learned from each and every position I have held.  I will remember that even though retail workers are given little respect from many outside of retail, we know how hard we work and how varied the tasks are that fill our day and we respect and honor each other.

I hope Feasterville knows how lucky I feel to have landed with them.  I hope Megan knows how thankful I am that she has taken me as part of her staff.  I hope Five Below continues to grow and prosper as a company because they truly offer something special to every community they join; reasonable prices for necessary items, a staff that values their customers, and lots of fun.

Goodbye to Five Below in Newtown, to the store, to my fellow employees, and to the exceptional customers.  Thank you for the past five years.  It’s been so very great!  I've loved being part of the Five Below Newtown experience!!


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