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By | The New Mexican
City’s newest department store holding grand opening today
Melanie Chapman on Tuesday took the day off -- ``legally,'' she said -- to drive from Jemez Springs to shop at Santa Fe's newest department store, Kohl's.
``I usually shop in Albuquerque,'' she said, bringing a smile to the face of Kohl's manager Mike Brogdin.
Kohl's offers national brands of clothing, shoes, kitchen ware, luggage and other items selling at discount prices, a sales staff of 130 people and a corporate parent embarked on a major expansion.
The store is in a new building in Valdes Business Park, and hundreds of people have visited the store since it opened Sunday.
Others shopping at the store Tuesday included Jolynn Pope, a Los Alamos resident. Pope came to Kohl's because she had a $10 promotional coupon and because ``I like Kohl's. Every time I go to Wichita to visit my sister, I shop there. Now I can tell her Santa Fe is getting one.''
Pope added: ``In Los Alamos, there's no place to shop.''
``It's new, and I wanted to see it,'' said Dolores Martinez, a Santa Fe resident as she explored the store. ``I like it, and I will be back.''
Kohl's is holding its Santa Fe grand opening at 8 a.m. today with a ribbon cutting and a gathering of store employees to welcome early shoppers.
The store is just southwest of Santa Fe Place, and its four anchor department stores -- Mervyn's, JC Penney, Dillard's and Sears.
Brogdin, who opened a Kohl's in Amarillo, Texas, three years ago, is the Santa Fe store manager and is here to stay for a while. ``I brought my family with me,'' he said. ``We like it here.''
The Santa Fe store -- at 68,725 square feet -- is smaller than the standard 88,000-square-foot Kohl's, such as the one in Albuquerque. Because the stores are close, a Kohl's ``corporate formula'' dictated Santa Fe's store would be smaller, Brogdin said.
The product mix is the same, but the number of items for sale at the Santa Fe store is smaller than at the larger stores, he said.
Despite Santa Fe's tight labor market, with an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent, Kohl's had no problem finding the employees it needed to staff the store. ``We had a lot of great applicants,'' Brogdin said. ``A lot of them have worked in retail before.''
Kohl's was well aware of Santa Fe's minimum wage -- which now stands at $9.50 an hour for businesses with 25 or more workers -- but ``that didn't deter us,'' Brogdin said. ``We pay our employees very well.'' Brogdin declined to disclose how much employees earn at the company.
Even part-time workers receive benefits, he added.
The new store hired associates for cash-register operations, department service, customer service, early-morning stocking, truck unloading, housekeeping and evening signage/pricing updates.
Brogdin and other Kohl's managers spend much of their time walking the floor to make sure the store is running smoothly.
``We spend almost our entire shift where our customers are,'' he said. ``One of our big things is smiling at every customer we see.''
The Santa Fe Kohl's features such national brands as Carter's, Champion, Columbia Sportswear Co., Dockers, Levi Strauss and Co., Pfaltzgraff, Playtex and Reebok. Kohl's also has its own brands.
Recently Kohl's started offering a variety of items from designer Vera Wang, who until now has specialized in wedding dresses. ``We're very excited to have her on board,'' Brogdin said.
The Santa Fe Kohl's is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. The store has extended hours during holiday sales.
Since Kohl's is free standing and not in a shopping mall, ``corporate can set whatever hours we need,'' Brogdin said.
Today, the Kohl's corporation celebrates the largest grand opening in its history with the debut of 80 new stores and thousands of new jobs. The company will open another 15 stores in mid-November. That will bring a total of 929 stores nationwide.
Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or bobquick@sfnewmexican.com.
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