Turquoise stocking caps and purple winter coats remind shoppers that winter's near at Black Wagon children's boutique along North Portland's Mississippi Avenue.
Airin Miller and Matthew Neff were first in the door Saturday morning, hunting for agift for Neff's niece Ellie. Before long, four more customers filled the store.
For Black Wagon, Saturdays are "game day," said owner Sarah Shaoul. Soon, she expects most days to be just as busy.
Last year's holiday season ushered in a steady flow of sales at Black Wagon. So this year, Shaoul plans to hire the store's first ever holiday help.
Across Oregon, holiday hiring season has arrived. For many businesses, the make-or-break shopping season defines the year's sales results.
Toys R Us, for instance, plans to enlist 400 seasonal employees in Oregon alone. Small businesses like Black Wagon often hire one or two workers -- if any at all.
All told, employers fill thousands of short-term jobs, more than 10,300 last year. Economists expect this year's tally to surpass that as the economy continues its sluggish growth.
Harry & David, the Oregon company perhaps most synonymous with holiday gifting, will add hundreds more workers this season than last, said Darren Prescott, vice president of customer care.
The Medford direct-mail gift seller decided this year not to outsource any call-center customer-service jobs, he said. Instead, the company will add 787 hires at its Eugene outpost. Many have already been hired, and recruiting will continue through October, Prescott said.
Everyone will be in place by the time Thanksgiving Day arrives. By December, the company expects to employ about 3,000 workers, two-thirds of them in Oregon, Prescott said.
He said the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are everything to Harry & David, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy a year ago.
"You have to have everything right," he said. "When that time comes, you have to be prepared."
Holiday hiring fairs
Retail and shipping companies will recruit for seasonal employees at three upcoming events co-sponsored by WorkSource Oregon, all free and open to the public.
Tuesday, Oct. 2: Employers represented include Kohl's, Target, Best Buy, FedEx and UPS. College Center at Mt. Hood Community, 26000 S.E. Stark St., Gresham, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 9: Participating companies include The Gap, Banana Republic, Zumiez, Gymboree and Yankee Candle Co. The Streets shopping mall, 19350 N.W. Emma Way, Hillsboro, 4-7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 24: Companies represented include Sear's, Home Depot and H&R Block. Workforce Center at Portland Community College, 5600 N.E. 42nd Ave., Portland, 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Source: WorkSource Oregon
Other retailers are following suit. Macy's is recruiting "holiday visual merchandisers" to upkeep mannequins and displays at area department stores. Microsoft is staffing a new pop-up store reportedly planned for Washington Square in Tigard. T-Mobile is adding seasonal sales staff at Oregon shops.
Portland-area WorkSource Oregon offices are co-sponsoring three job fairs in October aimed at seasonal hiring. Some employers have already begun recruiting directly from the offices, said Todd Brown, a WorkSource spokesman.
Holiday hiring has been on the rebound since 2008, when the recession gutted seasonal employment and left consumers with less to spend on gifts. Between 2006 and 2008, Oregon's holiday buildup dropped from 13,300 workers to 7,000, said Employment Department economist Nick Beleiciks. It's continued to climb since but took a hit last year as Borders closed all of its bookstores.
New Wal-Mart stores across the metro area should boost holiday payrolls this year, said economist David Cooke, also with the Employment Department.
Temporary hiring makes a significant dent on the state's economy, he said. However, seasonal workers are often part-time and typically are less experienced than year-round peers. As a result, the jobs have less of an economic impact than the numbers suggest, he said.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based firm that handles company layoffs, released its U.S. holiday employment outlook earlier this week. Although most retailers are optimistic about holiday shopping, they may not boost payrolls.
Target, for instance, expects to hire between 80,000 and 92,000 temporary employees nationwide, down from 90,000 workers in 2011. The Minneapolis-based company doesn't break out job figures on the metro level.
Black Wagon's one extra employee will help it compete against places like Target. The shop can't compete on price with chain retailers, owner Shaoul said, but it can give customers a better shopping experience.
That means finding a temporary worker who really cares about customer service is a top priority, she said. She expects to find the new worker within the next few weeks, targeting the customer pool the store has built.
"We are going to be very careful about overbooking our labor," Shaoul said, "making sure that we can serve our customers, and do it without going broke."
--Molly Young, @mollykyoung
Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/money/index.ssf/2012/09/businesses_big_and_small_gear.html
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