Week 2

Starting off my second week at Anthro already seemed like a normal routine for me. On Wednesday I began the morning by watering plants the display team has scattered throughout the store; once the flowers no longer are fresh or up to standards we buy new ones. After the plants were watered, Valerie asked me to source for materials we would be using in our next window display that were inexpensive enough to make our monthly budget. I spent some time on the computer browsing websites as well as looking for local NYC companies that could help us. Sourcing is very important for Anthropologie, not only to find the cheapest supplies at high quality but also to find unique products that are not all around the city. After I made a list of possible supplies, Valerie had me and another intern, Cara rearrange a bedding displays finding an interesting solution to hang comforters from racks screwed into the wall. When this was finished, all the interns as well as my two supervisors went upstairs to critique a window we had created. As we stood outside and looked in, we stated the strengths and the weaknesses about the display which ultimately resulted in taking apart a piece of it to improve the outside view. The next big window display we will be constructed consists of thousands of plastic balls painted gray hanging from two different color strings, so for the rest of the day we began painting and drying the plastic balls while experimenting with different string colors and lengths.

Window display critiqued

 Gray ball process

On Thursday, I took a break from the display and did merchandising. Michelle and I began the morning by going to the stock room to view and size the new merchandise that had come in for the day. Once we had one of each new piece of clothing hung on a rolling rack, we separated them depending on which concept they would fit best in, which most of the new pieces would be going in our front room. We spent a good amount of time rearranging the whole front room called "Age of Aquarius" which has a very 1970's bohemian feel to it but eventually we found places for all the new apparel. Because so much new clothing came into one room we decided it was time to change the old mannequin. There are 22 mannequins in the Chelsea Anthro and Michelle tries to change at least 2 every day to keep the merchandise fresh and the customer's interest in the clothing high. For the next hour, I was back in the fitting rooms, steaming the new outfit we picked out for the mannequin and running upstairs to find jewelry and accessories to go with. Once that was finished, we took a break for lunch and returned in an hour. While we were at lunch a customer decided to buy an entire outfit in the window so that meant we had to find a new outfit that still corresponded with the display that was up. Michelle and I dressed two more mannequins then spent the rest of the afternoon, organizing clothing that needed to be back-stocked.

On Friday, we spent the majority of the time working on painting, cleaning and drilling more of the gray balls because our window needs to be nearly complete by next week.