Advantages/Disadvantages -dept store counter

[Cait]

Hi

Ive been trying to find some threads on this but to no avail....

Do any of you work in a department store/shopping centre nail bar? Have you ever? What are the pros/cons as opposed to working in a stand alone salon?
In England there seems to be so many whereas over here in Austria they dont exist ... yet... so am interested ........

Looking forward to your replies!
thanks !

Caitx

 

[NAIL FRENZY]

I worked in a nail bar in a department store. The difference I found was the complaints from staff and customers about the smell, the customers just don't expect it in a Dept store. We also had to fetch a large container of water each morning to fill the system and then wait for it to warm up and it then needed emptying at the end of the day. The thing that I did'nt really like was that we had to go on a rota to work on the till. I really had no interest in learning about all the clothing, bags and shoes etc that they were selling but obviously as you were front line when on the till they did ask a lot of questions. We retailed our own products (OPI) which I loved because I knew what I was talking about selling them. We also had to take it in turns to cash the till at the end of the day and as it was a huge department store so there was huge amounts of cash and a lot of responsibility came with that. We did get a good discount when purchasing though . On the other hand we did get customers that had gone in to purchase clothes etc and some were there for prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses and coctail outfits etc, so we gained custom from them. On the whole personally I would have prefered to be in a salon only environment, because I wanted to go in, do the job I love, retail the products I knew and go home. I think every store would have its own rules though, so the rules will obviously all differ.

HTH's :hug:

 

[geeg]

Hi

Ive been trying to find some threads on this but to no avail....

Do any of you work in a department store/shopping centre nail bar? Have you ever? What are the pros/cons as opposed to working in a stand alone salon?
In England there seems to be so many whereas over here in Austria they dont exist ... yet... so am interested ........

Looking forward to your replies!
thanks !

Caitx

If you are a good nail technician then in my opinion you are much better to go it alone.

Most Dept. Store sites are run by nail franchises and the staff turn over is horrendous. Clients get fed up with never seeing the same nail tek twice and I have never seen a really successfully run 'store site' yet.

Same thing at airports. They come they go because who in all reality wants to get their nails done at an airport? So the teks do the odd repairs etc and never make any money. If you're going away, then you generally have had your nails done by the time you arrive at the airport!

 

[sj1973]

If you are a good nail technician then in my opinion you are much better to go it alone.

Most Dept. Store sites are run by nail franchises and the staff turn over is horrendous. Clients get fed up with never seeing the same nail tek twice and I have never seen a really successfully run 'store site' yet.

Good points here....i never thought of it like this.....just thought if you worked in a shop you would get more experience learning from each other.......obviously, what the customer wants is the same nail tech....:green:

 

[angel fingers]

If you are a good nail technician then in my opinion you are much better to go it alone.

Most Dept. Store sites are run by nail franchises and the staff turn over is horrendous. Clients get fed up with never seeing the same nail tek twice and I have never seen a really successfully run 'store site' yet.

Same thing at airports. They come they go because who in all reality wants to get their nails done at an airport? So the teks do the odd repairs etc and never make any money. If you're going away, then you generally have had your nails done by the time you arrive at the airport!

ive seen nail bars in a few stores and they were never busy, i would think this is an indication of how successful they are.

the ones at airports, i would have thought were more aimed at the airline staff who must be immaculate in their appearance for work.

 

[geeg]

ive seen nail bars in a few stores and they were never busy, i would think this is an indication of how successful they are.

the ones at airports, i would have thought were more aimed at the airline staff who must be immaculate in their appearance for work.

Normally airline staff have their own nail techs. Never seen a flight attendant sitting at an airport nail bar.

I've watched closely the nail bars at Manchester Airport and Leeds/Bradford Airport. Manchester failed pretty quickly (3 times) and I never see the tek at the one in Leeds .. been empty evey time I have ever passed it.

It is not a situation I would choose as an independent nail technician. Not if I wanted to make any money anyway.

 

[angel fingers]

Normally airline staff have their own nail techs. Never seen a flight attendant sitting at an airport nail bar.

I've watched closely the nail bars at Manchester Airport and Leeds/Bradford Airport. Manchester failed pretty quickly (3 times) and I never see the tek at the one in Leeds .. been empty evey time I have ever passed it.

It is not a situation I would choose as an independent nail technician. Not if I wanted to make any money anyway.

ahh, i'm quite surprised. it would have seemed that they would have a captive audience so to speak.
i guess the staff probably probably get their nails done in their home towns in their time off then.

 

[loubylou]

There is a nail bar in Harvey nicks in Leeds but i have never seen a client having their nails done when i have walked through the store
and i walk through every time I'm in Leeds just to be nosy (i have never bought anything in there lol) hth

 

[Angelaznailz]

I can't speak of department stores, however any nail bars I've seen in aisles of shopping malls have 'embarassed' looking clients at them. They look uneasy at being perched on the stools, and seem uncomfortable at 'tom, **** & harry' gawping at them. I wouldn't like it and like to regard my nail service as a pampering experience - not a side show ! :irked:

 

[chrogers]

Hey, I've worked for a Nail bar chain with in House of Fraser. Personally since working in my own salon and mobile I can see the negatives of such an atmosphere.

Its a very un personal experience for the client as its not guaranteed you'll return to the same technician. I found the job became more target and sales based rather than producing quality sets of nails. Our staff meetings were all about how much money we'd made etc etc which of course is important, but to me the quality of my work came first.
I also found the timing quite difficult.

Now I work on freelance I usually give myself 2 hours for a full set of tips and overlays. That gives me plenty of time to talk through the options to the client, perform the treatment, paint, and take payment/rebook. In my old job I was given 60mins, to do all this and to try and sell products and offers to the client which to me is near inpossible. So inevitably my work suffered - hence the leaving. lol

I have also asked my clients how they felt about the department store environment and they pretty much all said the same thing that they felt like they were in a goldfish bowl. A lot of my clients used to avold having pedicures for this reason alone.

I hope i've given you some advise. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions xx

 

[Cait]

thanks guys!

really interesting points and obvious cons to the concept!
Its really interesting for me as any time I have been in the UK I have seen these counters ... although I must admit they look cool and I have never seen one empty per se. I do however like the idea for say a tourist to have this possibility as sometimes it is very difficult to get your nails done when abroad.
Interesting also to see how many geeks do not work in such an environment!
thanks!
Cait x