I joined the company as a temp in 1997 after helping my sister who was a manager of one of the stores change a lightbulb in her store. I loved the feel of the company and worked my way to assistant manager, then manager of a stand alone Accessorize store in Windsor, gaining visual merchandising experience within these roles.
I was surprised by how much I enjoy arranging jewellery and bags! In 2003 I got the role I had always desired, which was the mobile Visual merchandiser for central London. After a couple of years, I moved into the office to be a visual merchandising specialist for Accessorize. I am really happy in this role and enjoy working with all the different departments. My aim is to be head of visual merchandising for Accessorize one day.
The best thing about working for Monsoon Accessorize is the people and the ethos, you feel like you are all in it together pushing for the same goal. The company has doubled in size since I started, although it still keeps the close knit feel. I am very proud of who and what I work for. I even met my fiancee through Monsoon Accessorize!
My typical day: I arrive at work at about 8:30 - I like to plan out my day and answer any emails. I’ll then meet with the Accessorize VM assistant to talk through the day’s and week’s projects and deadlines. We’ll work together on the layout merchandising for the next guidelines that we issue to stores.
I’ll break for lunch at around 12:30, and then meet with the merchandising team to discuss sales figures on ranges. After that I’ll meet with one of the buyers so we can discuss which product samples we’ll need for the Accessorize Mockshop – this is a room at our head office that’s kitted out like one of our Accessorize stores, where we physically work through how the product should be merchandised at our head office which really helps to make our guidelines come to life.
In the afternoon I’ll catch up with one of our equipment suppliers to discuss our current equipment needs and new visual merchandising and display ideas with them before leaving the office at about 5:30.