KB Toys plans store closures

ok so what the heck is going on i wish they would just be honest. we do have famlies to feed.tell us now.

I use to work for kb toys in the late 90s' i.e. 1998-1999, in moreno valley, CA. Even though I was only about 22-23 years old at the time I could see the wrighting on the wall. The D.M.s' and above did not care about thier workers and it all caught up with them in the end. I have to admit it was fun working there though.

I was hired in 1994 as an seasonal Christmas Associate, and after 3 separate interviews from the store management team. You would think I was applying for a Fortune 500 company position. I stuck it out, and grew to love working for KB Toys. I became a regular Part-Timer, and transferred to another KB location due to my family moving to the next city. I also enjoyed working for that location, and the people I worked with were & still are talented people. However, I had experienced some interesting managerial decision making, and my first store that I was a Manager, closed...reason given was we were opening up a KB Toyworks in another part of the county, and our lease was up(1997). More DSM changes, home office tactics, and concept changes, we struggle to keep afloat...greeting customers, building up ADT''s/UPT''s, pushing current promos, running registers...and all by yourself...until your afternoon help arrives at 2:30pm. Sound familar? That''s because your payroll doesn''t allow for morning help. After the lawsuit mess in 2000, when us managers sued for working over 50 hours+, and not getting paid for it, you''d think that KB would give us more hours for coverage. Time management is key, but when you pile on more responsibilities with even lesser hours to perform them, including a reduction of how many associates you are to have per store. My store closed in 2004 the last round before this current bankruptcy protection mess, and lost alot of great people. I was rehired 9 months later, and once again I was working with good people who worked hard to keep KB floating in sales. Tough competition & low product allocations, our store stuggled. My manager Angelo worked the hardest, and you wanted to do your best to help run the store with KB Pride. Unfortunately, my health took a beating, and my husband did drastic measures to force me to quit, and not of my own chosing. I feel for the company now, but it has to look & LISTEN to employees...we know what product sells, know what it takes to whip out the frieght in "24 hours", "Stack it high, Watch it Fly", "Plop it on Top", and what our good people are worth. To save the company & make it great.....LISTEN TO YOUR STORE MANAGERS! THEY know what it takes to pull it through. If I was given the chance to work for them again, I would be more verbal in what we can do to make it work. I still wear my KB Toys cap with Pride...because I worked with the best people in my long retail career. I would even have my family work with me at the closest KB Toys to me, even if it was just Green Friday Week-end....that was my favorite time of year from KB.

After i had left KB toys for another retail store for lake of work. (Because the store was closing) they are now trying to fight an un-employment claim. I dont understand this company. they moved my family and i over an 1 north of where we live and then they close my store. But they wanted me to move another 3 hours away to go to a smaller store. They make no sense. How much can you ask from a family. This company should just close its doors for good. I hope wal-mart will come and just buy them out. somebody needs to do something the upper-mngt has spent money in all the wrong place and we had to feel the effect. screw KB

My purpose is to not argue with Jay,and if you read his past and present blogs this is what we have learned.1.)Jay is on a power trip and does not care about his employees.2.)Jay has never managed a store.
3.)Jay never earned his job or was promoted from within because he was hired by his friend Matt who was fired shortly after.4.)Jay has never had to unload or process a truck.5.)Jay has never worked in a store by himself dealing with customers and running a cash register.6.)Jay thinks UPT and ADT is the answer to building a business.(KB closes another 150 stores)
7.) Jay only cares about Jay and not his employees.8.)
Jay moves to Pittsfield thinking I''m King of the world.9.)Everyone in chicago celebrates Jays departure.10.)Jays position is eliminated and he is sent packing.Buh Buh Bye Jay . Employees perform best in an environment that encourages open and honest communication,The employees in the field working at the stores input will and should be a valuable part of KB toys success in the future.

In reply to jaymoney,
I work for kbtoys and I hope you do not.Bill is right in all that he said.I have been with kb since 2003 and am so tired of the no it all yuppies thinking they have all the answers when they have never worked in the trenches.Jay sounds like some little loser who has never dropped an ounce of sweat in his life.I bet you love to wear pink and yellow longsleave shirts and walk around malls with your blackberry thinking your important and serving no purpose for no one.look at yourself.. cmon you are an idiot.I hope I can work here for many years to come.. let us know jay where you are so I may tell my friends to stay away.........

I''m a former store manager that chose to leave on my own. It was the best decision i''ve ever made... I now work for a place that actually appreciates me, I get paid for every hour I work and hey I even get overtime. Before I left Kb i couldn''t imagine not working there i loved my store and I loved the people who worked for me. I put in 60 to 80 hrs a week(because of the payroll crisis) now i realize it was for nothing.
my store was a high volume store and it was not underperforming, I was praised every corporate visit, I was praised by my customers, and I was praised by everyone I had worked for but yet when I decided to leave i was treated like crap. don''t get me wrong I worked for/with alot of great people over my years at KB but where are they all now???? they either jumped ship or were fired...what happened to the good ol days with Prusack, Hal, Lois, Juanita people who loved the company and loved their jobs and were awesome at what they did because they had pride in KB and wanted the company to succeed. You take those people away then some of the store managers leave and then the store managers leave and their asms leave and so on... and who replaces those people??? people who don''t give a crap about the company. I wish KB all the success in the world there are still alot of great people working there but lets face it they can''t afford to lose anymore of the good ones.

I worked at kb at the st. louis mills store and loved it because i worked for Jeff. He worked his but off. Im sorry but gerald the president was an idiot. I listened to his message and im sorry he sounds like an idiot. A pimp. The upper management does'nt even no what it is like to work at the store or empty a truck load of 600 cartons. They expected us to get the truck out in 24 hours but they only gave us 140 hours. There was no way of doing this. Tell the upper managment to come in a work during christmas and see how they do it. They wouldn't know what hit them.It really makes me sick that Jeff is gone because he was such a good manager. He knew how to treat his employees. With respect. He could actually run this company way better then half the upper management. He has been here way longer then any of you people.
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Jake has been fired and is gone.Now we can talk about getting back on our feet.Everyone makes bad choices and Andy will take out the trash .stay upbeat..

As one of the many Home Office employees leaving KB all I can say is "Whereever my travels may lead, paradise is where I am" -