The True Magic of Macys

Photo taken by Victoria Shieler.
Shoppers looking for perfect gift on Black Friday

 As families and friends gather around the table enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner and their day off, Diane Kroug is walking into work to do her twelve hour shift at Macy’s.

 Employees rush around the store setting up any last minute displays and sale signs. Kroug swiftly makes sure her department is ready to go and holds a quick meeting with her associates.

“Let’s focus on selling today and giving each customer an unforgettable experience,” Kroug says.

 The doors finally open and customers rush in to be the first to get the best deals of the year. The only problem is, Kroug’s department is completely empty.

            For the past 20 years Diane Kroug has been a part of Macy’s.  She has also been the head manager for cosmetics and fragrances for the past 10 years.  Every year the 58-year old manager has routinely worked extensive hours on black Friday.

 The bulk of her day consists of helping customers, setting up displays and making sure her department is reaching sales goals. She is also in charge of hiring new associates and seasonal associates. When it comes to the holidays, she says she wants to make sure her associates are well trained.

 “Since I can’t always be there, I want my associates to feel confident in selling and approaching customers,” Kroug says.

            After a few hours of the doors opening at 5p.m, the beauty and fragrance department really doesn’t have many deals or sales that appear to customers.

 In the fragrance department, if a customer spends more than $75 in fragrances, they get a small sample set of their bestselling scents.

 In the cosmetic department, some brands don’t even have a sale, while others have a gift with purchase after spending a certain amount. The gifts consist of sample products and makeup bags.

A few customers walk through the department and look at a few items then move to somewhere else in the store.

 “I am frustrated that I am missing out on spending time with my family while I just standing around here,” said Suzanne Collins, a grandmother of two and sales associate for Macy’s for more than five years. “It wouldn’t be too bad if we were actually busy, but to be standing around doing nothing makes me upset.”

As the night progresses, other associates in the department seem to become a little discouraged including Kroug.

 “Almost every year this department doesn’t do too well when it comes to the late and really early hours since we don’t have any big sales like some of the other departments,” Kroug says.  “But once the morning comes and in the afternoon, business will pick up.”

            When it comes to perfume and makeup, Kroug  seems to know what she is talking about. She can name every perfume in the store off the top of her head and can also name a variety of perfumes that Macy’s once carried.

“I have always been interested in beauty,” Kroug says. “My mother had a huge perfume collection and I remember when I was a child I would always smell and spray them. I would sometimes spray up to five different perfumes at once and my mother would get upset since I was wasting it.”

Kroug attended a local community college in her hometown of Erie Pa where she studied business management.

 “After college I knew I wanted to get into retail, so I got my first job as a sales associate in women’s clothing at Strawbridges,” Kroug says.  “Over time I moved throughout different departments and finally applied to a fragrance position and got it and I have been here ever since.”

Since then, Kroug has gotten married, had three children and is now currently a grandmother to two girls.

            While the morning hours starts to approach and after a pretty quiet night in the department, many associates are anxious to start working on their sales goal. It isn’t until around 7 a.m when customers starts to fill the department. Women of all ages search for a perfume to buy for that special someone.

 Kroug begins to sell gift sets left and right and soon lines started to form at the register. In a matter of just a few hours, many gift sets are starting to run low and some even are sold out.  “I knew it would pick up,” Kroug says. “Perfume is always a popular gift item during the holidays.”

            When sales started to pick up, store manager Thomas Stevenson comes by to check in with Kroug to see how the department was doing. Stevenson asks Kroug many questions on how sales are and if anything needs to be ordered for another shipment. He also asks about how the cosmetics department is doing.

 “Unfortunately, our cosmetics department gets hit the hardest during black Friday since items don’t switch as often as clothing or accessories,” Stevenson says.  “But now that many more people are out shopping we should see a significant increase in sales in that department.”

            When Kroug’s shift came close to ending, she pulls aside her assistant Christine Miller to fill her in on how sales were and what they should expect over the course of the day.

Miller, a Macy’s employee for two years seems confident to be taking over the department after Kroug is scheduled to leave.

 “Although this is going to be a crazy day, I feel confident that my associates and I can get the job done,” Miller says.

As for the next few weeks and even going into next year and the years following, Kroug seems to have a positive outlook on her life and her career. 

“This job is not for everyone, especially during the holidays when the hours and shifts can seem like forever and the work can be overwhelming, but that is what I love about this job,”  Kroug says.  “I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon. I love to keep busy and over the years I have built relationships with customers and associates that cannot be replaced. I would say my next step is to continue down this path because this is what I love.”