Area retailers gear up for Christmas with holiday hires

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Garnering a few extra coins for the holidays is possible through finding seasonal work, but the hiring process at most retailers is nearly complete. Firms often begin filling positions in early October for the 60 to 90-day period when they need additional help.|ret||ret||tab|

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Mixed prognosis|ret||ret||tab|

Citind National Retail Federation projection of a 4 percent increase in sales over November and December 2001, Linda Pettijohn, marketing professor at Southwest Missouri State University, said, "the Christmas season could be much brighter than first thought," according to an SMSU news release.|ret||ret||tab|

Pettijohn added, however, that "the port lockdown on the West Coast will cause distribution obstacles." |ret||ret||tab|

"Given that many retailers make 40 percent of their sales in the fourth quarter, the lack of merchandise could be devastating."|ret||ret||tab|

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Help wanted|ret||ret||tab|

Seeking help through job fairs, newspaper ads and an employee "bounty program," which rewards in-house employees who make referrals, JC Penney's assistant store manager Dave Atchison said they'll put about 75 people to work during this year's holiday season.|ret||ret||tab|

Pay starts at $6.25 an hour with added compensation possible for relevant experience, Atchison said. |ret||ret||tab|

While some new hires stay on as permanent employees, their jobs are essentially over by New Year's Day, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

Both Famous Barr and Kmart are stocking their payrolls with additional employees as well. |ret||ret||tab|

Beginning around Oct. 1, Famous Barr began hiring about 90 seasonal employees to fill sales slots in the store's 17 different retail areas, said Glenalee Roper, human resource manager.|ret||ret||tab|

New hires for the $6.15 an hour jobs are recruited from the store's regular applications flow, Roper said, but Famous Barr also ran a newspaper ad seeking help. |ret||ret||tab|

Seasonal hires this year will be about the same as last year, she added.|ret||ret||tab|

Kmart's South Campbell Avenue location hired 20 people for cashier and customer service positions before Thanksgiving, said Bonnie Gray, associate development coordinator. She anticipates staffing another 10 to 15 employees in early December. |ret||ret||tab|

Pay rates for Kmart new hires are not disclosed, said Dave Pickett, store manager for the South Campbell location. He anticipated sales to be on par with last year's volume, but he added that the recent enlargement of the Walnut Lawn Wal-Mart to supercenter status has sharply increased competition for customers. |ret||ret||tab|

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Status quo|ret||ret||tab|

Seasonal employees who normally come on board at Hobby Lobby could expect to work through January's inventory, said Bryan Crowder, store manager at the firm's North Kansas Expressway address. |ret||ret||tab|

However, Crowder said that his store was overstaffed when he arrived in August from the Battlefield location. Consequently, any demand for seasonal labor will be covered by adjusting in-house employee hours.|ret||ret||tab|

Similarly, Westlake Ace Hardware on South Campbell will meet any seasonal work loads it has through its current employee roster, said Jody Chambers, store manager.|ret||ret||tab|

Greg Nutting, store manager at 50-year-old Maschino's Home Expressions, doesn't typically hire seasonal help. |ret||ret||tab|

Instead, his 12 employees wear "a lot of hats" and multitask different jobs "to cut costs and make the business more profitable."|ret||ret||tab|

Nutting said the store experienced a "poor spring," but current sales are "slowly eating away at our deficits so we're coming real close to being even with last year's sales at the end of this year." |ret||ret||tab|

The hiring of "incremental folks" isn't done at Silver Dollar City, said Brad Thomas, vice president and assistant general manager for the 45-acre theme park. |ret||ret||tab|

Any seasonal labor demands are met by the park's 1,243 employees.|ret||ret||tab|

When Silver Dollar City closes Dec. 22, about 300 of these employees will continue working January through March until they are rejoined by the park's other employees for the regular season beginning in early April. |ret||ret||tab|

Silver Dollar City has been open for Christmas since 1988. |ret||ret||tab|

Thomas said this year's holiday numbers, which are tallied Nov. 2 to Dec. 22, should rival last year's count of 313,000 visitors to the park. Revenue figures are not disclosed, he said. |ret||ret||tab|

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