I applied via the Cost Plus website and eventually received an email from the store manager about a job fair sometime in the next week. When I arrived, I asked an employee about where to go for the job fair and she didn't know, so I went to another employee and they told me to put my name on the list up front and walk around the store until they call me up. The list had about 20 names already on it from that day (I assume they had several groups earlier). I arrived about 10 minutes early and waited around the store for maybe another 15 minutes until they called me up (they called me just by saying my name and not too loudly, so I had to really pay attention and not actually wander around the store).
I was put into a group with 3 other applicants and we were taken back to the manager's office, which was too small for the total of 5 people in the room. The manager was generally friendly and relaxed and asked us a lot of questions, each of us taking a turn to answer. I wore a black blazer, black blouse, black skinny jeans, and oxford style shoes and I was still probably a bit over-dressed. The other women in my group were wearing tee shirts and jeans. The manager was wearing jeans and a long sleeve cotton shirt, so the dress code wasn't too strict.
One applicant had blue hair and asked if that would be an issue. The manager reinforced that Cost Plus truly doesn't discriminate, which means they allow unnatural hair color and visible tattoos (amongst other things).
