Pros
Much of the merchandise is well chosen. There is a huge selection of glassware at great prices. The furniture is well-priced and interesting -- but practically a state secret -- no one knows it exists. Nicely designed holiday looks. Gorgeous original christmas ornaments. C&B is one of the few stores that does not make staff work on commission and because of that customers praise the staff for service. Unfortunately customers don't always realize that commission is why they get such bad service elsewhere -- if you don't look like Mr. Big Bucks in most stores the staff won't even look at you. At C&B a little friendliness from the staff makes customers assume they are getting great service. Sometimes they are sometimes they are just getting lip service.
Cons
Unfortunately there are so many. The managers are very unpleasant, they snap at staff to smile but they themselves are gloomy and mean. The managers are unbelievably rude to customers any time a customer complains. The managers also get paid $125 for any seasonal staffer they bring in and that means that some holiday staffers get great hours -- and rest get the crumbs. It is also the only store I have ever worked in that does not offer seasonal staff a basic set of hours. Also they hire twice as many as they need at the holidays resulting in too many unqualified people and too few hours to go around. There is a lot of cost cutting too. The IT systems are outdated. I could have sold twice as much if we had the merchandise -- the store is constantly out of stock -- and so it becomes the fault of the staff for not selling the customer "something else". The store is run like a little mom & pop store with the sales associates being told to do many jobs that are not sales jobs like restocking, cleaning the kitchen -- even the sales floor. There is no cleaning crew, the floors, shelves and bins are full of gross dirt and dust. C&B's idea of a cleaning person is a sales associate who for a minute or two is not selling something or restocking. I have even personally been told to put toilet paper in the stalls. Relations between co-workers are awful. Much of it is along racial lines. Workers who have been brought in to earn those bonuses for the person who recommended them tend to be less than hard workers, they have great hours and protection, what else do they need to do? People are way too much in other peoples business. Managers seem to enjoy criticizing staff in front of customers for things that are irrelevant or that could be discussed later.