Hello lovely readers!
On Friday 13th April, after I'd recently been for an interview, I got a phone call offering me a job to work for my DREAM company, Topshop! My local store has been getting refurbished and they needed new staff to employ to work in the newly revamped store and I'm one of them! I am absolutely elated to be working for this brand as I own about 90% of the clothing in my wardrobe anyway and I'm super keen to work in retail.
After speaking with the team during my time here so far there is also so much potential for career progression and different avenues I can go down with all sorts of skills to learn and develop, some of which I can even incorporate my degree into too which is amazing! I am immediately drawn to the visual merchandising route that is available, so we'll see how that goes. I can't wait to get stuck in to this new role and see where it takes me!
Fast forward to now and this what I have been up to since starting working there:
Induction Day
This began in early May. Myself a few other new starters sat in the office where one of our managers talked us through the importance of health and safety and fire safety in store, filled out paper work and watched various videos that showed multiple customer scenarios and the best way to react and respond.
Uniform Night
This followed soon after and just before the store had its official opening to the public. Myself and the rest of the staff came in and got first dibs of the new clothes that had come in for us to choose for our uniform. Depending on your contracted hours you have a certain allowance, so with me being new I am allowed 3 items to buy with my uniform allowance. It was also a chance to mingle with the team, get a first glimpse of the new store and get familiar with the new layout. It is safe to say it is GORGEOUS! The transformation is amazing and such a huge improvement from how it previously looked.
Store Opening Day/My First Day
Was a huge success! As you can imagine with a store grand opening, it was very busy that day. I was initially quite nervous before I started my first shift but after the first hour I was completely relaxed into my role and had gotten to grips with the layout of the store, the different areas I'd be working in and interacting with customers. I'd even seen a few familiar faces come to visit the new store too which was great to see. We even had a member of staff who brought in tons of sweets for us all. I may have pinched a few iced gems and parma violets heehee!
VIP Event Night
This followed on from the opening day and was only for the staff plus one guest of their choosing. Naturally I invited along my friend, Kate as she is also as Topshop mad as I am! Both of us managed to bag a few purchases so all in all the night was a success!Team Building Evening
This was held in the upstairs room of Revolution Bar which the team had hired out for the occasion. First we watched a video to refresh us all on what we need to do in store to help our customers, then we were split into groups and had to come up with what we do in store to help customers that we think is good and then write down what we can do to be even better. We all then made personal pledges to the company about what we will do individually to help with the store. After that we were each given a plain white coffee mug and paint each and we painted our names and created designs of our choosing onto them so that we each had our own mug to use in the tearoom. I thought this was such a good idea and a great team building exercise. I painted a sunshine wearing sunglasses and then a rainbow, however the pain ran slightly so it ended up as a messy rainbow haha! but never mind! Once we had finished the activities we all had food. I had a garlic and mozzarella pizza which was delicious!Since these events, the rest of the time has been spent working many shifts in store (more money to spend on more Topshop clothes haha!), continuing getting to know the other staff and familiarising myself with the store and latest trends. Its been really fun and I'm enjoying every moment of it! We are currently in the middle of our first sale since the store opened and I may have purchased a few items already from the rails....heehee! Eee I know, I'm a terrible shopping addict aren't I?! XD
