Building an image one store at a time - Borders' corporate culture allows superstores remarkable degree of managerial autonomy

Discount Store News, June 17, 1996

From giving associates the freedom to design their own name badges to the option of owning company stock (after two years of service), Borders' corporate culture consistently encourages individuality within the framework of a large corporate force.

"As a company, we're not about uniformity," said Vincent Altruda, senior vp, retail operations for the 126-unit, dress-code-free chain, or "a collection of fine book stores" as it prefers to be called. The typical Borders store measures 30,000 sq. ft., and each unit is staffed with a full-time community resource coordinator (CRC) who plans 30 instore events per month, including book signings, how to classes, live music performances, children-related activities or whatever matches the individual market.

But aside from stocking best-sellers and some of the fixtures, each superstore is empowered to find its own niche in the local marketplace.

"We tell our [general managers]: 'You figure out who your customer is, and you find a way to express the personality of the people you serve.' We want every store to look different," Altruda explained.

For example, the recently debuted downtown Boston superstore opened inside a former three-level bank and has modified the vault from the old Boston Five Bank to serve as the spot for special-order processing.

Borders' proprietary information system, "the Expert System," which enables Borders to maintain its dominant position in title selection, is the base upon which the company's micromarketing strategy and operations rest.

Each store's merchandise manager decides the look of the endcaps, and each unit's full-time community resource coordinator decides which instore event will go over best with the crowds it markets to.

As part of its commitment to service--one of two legs the company stands on (selection is the other)--training is paramount to the chain. Employee satisfaction precedes customer satisfaction. And while finding the right staff and empowering them to serve Borders' customers is not a new concept, the superstore's angle differs from even the best discounter's approach.

"We like to take advantage of our smart staff," Altruda said, meaning the people on the selling floor are encouraged to use their best judgement when it comes to fostering the all-important shop-and-browse environment. Borders has no room or interest in the Wal-Mart-style "acknowledgment codes" that require staff to greet or offer a may-I-help-you to guests who pass within 10 ft. of them.

"Our first rule of customer service is that there is no customer service," Altruda said, explaining that staff should avoid intruding on a customer poring over or even just leafing through a book. Some customers are there for the escape that reading offers, and even though traditional retail wisdom would compel the staff to sell the customer until the register rings, Borders employees are trained to acknowledge only the customers who seem to want to be acknowledged.

Borders compensates for the hands-off approach to service with an always-staffed, prominently displayed information area at the front of each store. The company training program begins as a five-day, hands-on experience, but as is the case at other progressive retailers, the training never officially ends. Employees receive a $30 book credit each month to ensure they keep reading and, in turn, are able to better guide customers seeking assistance.

Finding the right employees is the first step, although the company claims the stores are "a preferred place to both work and shop," and that its turnover rate is extremely low for the retail industry. "My job is to understand why that is and to make sure we don't deviate from what we're doing right," Altruda said.

Pre-tests are administered to applicants, but are not graded. They are used as a guide to understand how well-suited a job seeker may be. The test distributed in Dearborn, Mich., (which may not be the same as the one handed to interested parties in other cities) asks applicants to identify the authors of 32 works from Republic to Charlotte's Web, and to categorize almost 40 authors ranging from Leo Tolstoy to Maya Angelou.

Tests for the music side of the business are tailored to reflect the mix of music categories particular to the individual market (folk and classical seem overrepresented chainwide), but also asks about contemporary performers, such as naming the artist who recorded the titles

"Moondance," "Graceland" and "OU812." (Answers: Plato, E.B. White, fiction, African-American studies, Van Morrison, Paul Simon and Van Halen.)

But what goes for Dearborn does not necessarily play out in the rest of the chain, including where Maya Angelou's works are merchandised. Dearborn's African-American studies section is the second biggest in the chain; only the downtown Philadelphia unit stocks more titles. Other units in different parts of the country may house her works under poetry.

Events vary from market to market, depending on what best fits the community. Film critiques follow weekly showings of movies in the Fort Worth, Texas, store, while Dearborn will begin a Camp Borders for 8- to-13-year-olds on Wednesday afternoons this summer. Arts and crafts, open mike events for youngsters and other learning activities are also scheduled.