Archived Hearth & Hand

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Sweet Pea

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So they are going to make my area H&H and all that area over there. Anyone else have this area? I know H&H doesn’t have a plano but that’s all the info I have on that area. Other than it looks like crap 90% of the time.
 
You will be using a visual merchandise guide (VMG) to set both H&H and the home decor flat area. If your store has a VM, ask to be shown how they set it to learn how to merchandise smartly; it is very different than just placing the merchandise like you would in a regular inline POG as you will have to make judgement calls sometimes. As long as you maintain a good zone after the initial set, upkeep is fairly easy. You will want to make sure it is full all the time and that discontinued items are pulled from the backroom quickly; this makes it easier to transition from one set to another.
 
All I can say is you’ve got to have a bit of a designers eye. I’ve been working the reset and it’s more than just putting merchandise on the shelves. You follow a guide for the set which is fairly straightforward. But once it’s been shopped, you need to know how to keep making it look good and not “90% crap”.
 
If you aren't careful, H&H will become a "catch all". That's where people like to put returns when they don't know where they actually go and are too lazy to find out. It's very similar in some ways to the Threshold set, just without a POG.
 
A VM resets various areas. This week it's H&H and the new home dec set. Next week, it's the new apparel stuff. They set it and then make it look good with merchandising tricks and whatnot. Our VM is really good.
 
Sloth said:
.. so what do they do after the reset each week? They're TLs without the authority, usually. Doesn't quite make sense that their only job is basically "fancy plano". All the resets come with guides as well, don't they? Our H&H and Home VMGs all did, along with all our amplified gifting setups.

I know there are VMs that work their ass off, even jumping in other areas to help out when needed. But I really don't understand the need for a VM if GM TMs get saddled with H&H and Home VMGs and softlines TMs change mannequins. And, like I said, all the resets for those things come with guides. Images that you can basically follow to a T, right? It's like hiring a chef to throw frozen dinners in a microwave.
Click to expand...

To use your analogy, a VM is like a chef who throws frozen dinners in the microwave, but presents it in a way you don't realize you are not eating a gourmet meal.
 
I've always liked how our VMTM tries to keep the VMGs secret so she can be the only one who pushes and zones Home Innovation/Hearth and Hand.
 
Sweet Pea said:
So they are going to make my area H&H and all that area over there. Anyone else have this area? I know H&H doesn’t have a plano but that’s all the info I have on that area. Other than it looks like crap 90% of the time.
Click to expand...

Are they also promoting you to VML?

You should get a VMG booklet to show you how to set things but you can also find it online here:

targetstore.actonservice.com/acton/fs/blocks/showLandingPage/a/15648/p/p-0050/t/page/fm/0

It will be listed under "Home". A lot of our VMs use the link on their phone to keep from dragging the book around or they use the link when the books haven't come in yet. :)
 
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Sloth said:
Sure, but aren't they presenting it in the way corporate tells them to?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. The pictures in the VMGs are a guideline only with lots of flexibility. Not all items pictured are guaranteed to arrive in all stores, especially by the set date. Most of the time when I set the Home flat, it is half empty until 2 weeks after the set when the other half of the freight arrives. Gotta keep it looking decent in the interim!
 
I call it Heck & Hell. People just throw stuff up there at my store. I absolutely hate having anything to do with it because it's so full of crap I can't find anywhere to put anything that I might have.
 
Sweet Pea said:
If we have a VM, I don’t know it. What do they do?
Click to expand...

They set the VMG in H&H and Home Innovation along with the Bedding and Bath VM areas. They are also responsible for making sure the mannequins are changed in A&A (all 100+ of them) according to the VMG or if the items that are in the VMG are on clearance or not in store they approve whatever the A&A TM's have used as the replacement (but it has to be according to whatever "theme" is in the VMG.) When the VMD walks they walk with him/her and take whatever critical feedback is given and make adjustments and maintain. They owned amplified gifting during 4th Q as well. To take all of that on is generally a promotion and comes with a pay raise if you are just a TM. Of course I also think that instead of employing VMLs some stores are just having multiple VMTMs and dividing up the ownership of all areas. In that case there may be no promotion/raise.
 
SigningLady said:
Not necessarily. The pictures in the VMGs are a guideline only with lots of flexibility. Not all items pictured are guaranteed to arrive in all stores, especially by the set date. Most of the time when I set the Home flat, it is half empty until 2 weeks after the set when the other half of the freight arrives. Gotta keep it looking decent in the interim!
Click to expand...

This! Until you've lived through a set you have no idea the hell involved. We are in the middle of a VML change and I've had to get the new set started and egads.... glad it's' not my daily job. The pictures in the book are not clear. Oh and I love how the VMG was for six sections in an aisle and stated (most stores are set up like this) only to find out that ours had five sections. -_- Fortunately there are label strips for the aisle to tell you what goes there but unfortunately those labels leave out the fact that there are peg hooks in places and.... let's just say it was a bit of a nightmare. GIve me regular plano any day.
 
Sloth said:
Basically, "fancy plano". Our plano team did our sets, no VML included. He was at another store.

TLs get TL pay because they do tasks that TMs don't do. So what justifies the VML position / pay if regular TMs are doing what VMLs do? Honestly, I think it would work better if VML was official an TL position again, and had TMs under them that handled all the H&H, VMGs, and mannequins instead. No GM or A&A TMs, but VMTMs. It would make sense then, rather than treating the VML like a pseudo-A&A TL and offloading their workload to regular TMs that don't see a pay increase.
Click to expand...

I agree with the TL position and VMTMs under them (that shouldn't have changed) but not all VMLs have a team to offload their workload to. In our store the VML is the one who does the majority of her workload. If she's lucky she may have one or possibly two people to help for the big sets (for a little while) but sometimes she just has to start early so she can get it done by the deadline. That means knowing when it sets, planning for the sets, and managing everything about those sets (just like the Plano TL) and communicating with the other TLs for coverage and needs. When Plano sets an area... they typically set it and walk away. It then becomes HL job to maintain it and keep it filled. The VML is responsible for setting, maintaining appearance, and keeping those areas full at all times. And since they are "focal areas" they get far more attention from the DTL walks and are priority when the VMD stops by. And our DTL tends to drop in every time there is a new set that is supposed to be up so our STL relies on our VML to stay on top of things to keep the DTL happy.

Not sure what you mean by "pseudo A&A TL" unless it's the part where the A&A TL's expect her to make sure the A&A team is on top of things when they're not in the building? Ours do that as well. And other than managing an official team and writing reviews what do the other TLs do that the VML doesn't do? Just curious.

So much more I could say but it's all a matter of opinion and opinions vary greatly based on experience. As was said some VMLs work hard and are worth their pay and others do not but that's not the fault of the position. It's the person in it.
 
starmaster1000 said:
I can't afford H&H even when it goes on clearance. :(
Click to expand...

I got a set of 8 glasses for $3.12 today. They came off a u boat directly onto the 90% off shelf. They were there for 30 seconds before I loaded them into my cart.

Way to go Target! From the DC to the back room (where it sat for 30-60 days) and right to 90% off before salvage the next day.
 
Sweet Pea said:
So they are going to make my area H&H and all that area over there. Anyone else have this area? I know H&H doesn’t have a plano but that’s all the info I have on that area. Other than it looks like crap 90% of the time.
Click to expand...
Yes H&H does have a plano; its VMG and (last time I checked a month before I left in october)a little book for it too. I looks like crap because someone is doing it by VMG and guests don't give a f***
 
RightArm said:
I agree with the TL position and VMTMs under them (that shouldn't have changed) but not all VMLs have a team to offload their workload to. In our store the VML is the one who does the majority of her workload. If she's lucky she may have one or possibly two people to help for the big sets (for a little while) but sometimes she just has to start early so she can get it done by the deadline. That means knowing when it sets, planning for the sets, and managing everything about those sets (just like the Plano TL) and communicating with the other TLs for coverage and needs. When Plano sets an area... they typically set it and walk away. It then becomes HL job to maintain it and keep it filled. The VML is responsible for setting, maintaining appearance, and keeping those areas full at all times. And since they are "focal areas" they get far more attention from the DTL walks and are priority when the VMD stops by. And our DTL tends to drop in every time there is a new set that is supposed to be up so our STL relies on our VML to stay on top of things to keep the DTL happy.

Not sure what you mean by "pseudo A&A TL" unless it's the part where the A&A TL's expect her to make sure the A&A team is on top of things when they're not in the building? Ours do that as well. And other than managing an official team and writing reviews what do the other TLs do that the VML doesn't do? Just curious.

So much more I could say but it's all a matter of opinion and opinions vary greatly based on experience. As was said some VMLs work hard and are worth their pay and others do not but that's not the fault of the position. It's the person in it.
Click to expand...

"pseudo A&A TL" = the former Softlines VMTL. Since the formal role ceased to exist while I was still there, that person simply became a A&A TM unless the mgmt was smart enough to realise that they still needed said person in that position whether or not a title was attached to is. So at least where I was, the person remained a TL and did Visual Merchandisizing. The only thing they lost was all the bad parts of TL that went to the A&A TL, of whom wasn
t over the former VMTL. In fact, said person in my store worked with both etls to make store all VMGs were done and correct.
 
SoCalMama said:
I got a set of 8 glasses for $3.12 today. They came off a u boat directly onto the 90% off shelf. They were there for 30 seconds before I loaded them into my cart.

Way to go Target! From the DC to the back room (where it sat for 30-60 days) and right to 90% off before salvage the next day.
Click to expand...
Thats because they is too much pushed to the stores. (ie its the purchasers fault)
 
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