For the last 17 years, Joseph Dente has helped nurture the Brooks Brothers brand as the Americana Manhasset’s store leader and current manager.
Dente was recently profiled by the National Retail Federation for its This is Retail program, a national media campaign launched earlier this year to highlight the industry’s career opportunities and service to local communities.
“I think being a store leader is one of the most diverse roles you could have in retail,” Dente told Blank Slate Media. “You wear a number of different hats on your head. You’re dealing with people, so in some ways you’re a bit of a psychologist in dealing with their needs, but you need to have the operational knowledge of how the store runs and help drive profits.”
Dente, who has spent the last 42 years in retail at a variety of different companies within the industry, says in his profile that he tries to view his store each morning the way customers do in order to reflect on the Brooks Brothers brand and personality.
According to the company’s profile, the Americana Manhasset’s Brooks Brothers store does $8 million to $10 million in sales per year and employs 31 associates.
Dente said the store also regularly hosts community-based charity events as a way of making the luxury clothing company more accessible to neighbors.
“I believe my store should be the living room of a community,” said Dente, a resident of Beechhurst, Queens. “We want to make it a place where friends can come and meet with friends and do things where it can make a difference in the community.”
This is Retail launched in April as a way of changing the retail industry’s perception among young people, National Retail Federation officials said.
But officials said the perception is slowly changing.
According to survey data provided by the National Retail Industry, 25 percent of 18-24-year-olds said they’re interested in retail for a career because “it’s exciting compared to other industries,” nearly 44 percent said retail provides attractive leadership opportunities and 26 percent said they would be able to balance their work and home lives with a career within the industry.
“Our industry has a perception problem – and we need to address it head on,” said Matthew Shay, the National Retail Federation’s president and chief executive officer, in an April statement. “We will counter the myths about our industry with research and stories that show the true face of retail. That, in fact, retail offers richly rewarding and diverse career opportunities, is central to communities, big and small, and that retail is at the forefront of innovation. By fundamentally transforming the perception of retail, we will ensure the industry continues to thrive and grow.”
The program’s Web site features managerial profiles as part of its “Store Leadership Series” and details career and service opportunities within the industry.
“Retail offers what young adults value in a career – yet too few are buying into the opportunities that exist; we want retail to be the first place young adults shop for a career,” Shay said. “Retail help[s] push boundaries in innovation, it brings good to people across the world through charitable actions, it is the foundation of every Main Street in America and it offers life-long careers in such areas as real estate, software development, private investigating and even animal training and photography. This is Retail is about telling that story.”
