EN went through a massive culture shift a few years ago and truthfully, they did not come out of it positively. It's much more of a Big Box/Corporate culture now with no room for creativity at the store level. Store Directors no longer have any autonomy and are true middle-managers now, all initiatives and regulations come out of the home offices in San Diego and Park City with no room for adjustment and no acknowledgement of differences in regions of the US & Canada (believe it or not, what works in CA & Utah doesn't always work in Texas, Chicago, Toronto, Florida, NEw York, etc.). That's OK when you're working for a company where each store is mostly the same (Target, Kohls, Gap, etc.) but it doesn't translate well to a company like EN where most stores are different from each other (think aquariums, childrens museums, historical venues, and military museums).
Poor leadership at the very top has made the VPs terrified for their jobs which leads to them throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Rules and systems change weekly and Store Directors/Assistant Directors/Buyers/Assistant Buyers are fired at whim and blamed for all problems. It's easier for the generals at the top to change out the soldiers at the bottom than acknowledge that they (Larry, Helen, Lorna et al) don't actually know how to manage a company of this size. On the other side of the coin Jerry & the marketing team are almost too good at their jobs, consistently winning contracts for new locations and making promises that EN just can't deliver on.
Too much is expected of the buying teams, they are basically set up to fail. All stores are divided into only 4 verticals with buyers being responsible for at least one entire vertical (some buyers have to buy for the entire company.). The same buyers will have to do all the buying and planning for completely different business types (think having to buy for history museums while also buying for botanical gardens, or sports museums AND Sears Tower, etc.) So the buying teams are stretched thin and can't deliver the individualized assortments that were promised by Jerry & team when they won the contract.
It used to be a great company to work but but they just got too big haven't been able to adapt appropriately. Unfortunately of them they've lost a lot of great talent and industry respect along the way.
