Discussion Forum!

High End Department Stores

There is a wide range of stores within the broad category of department stores. The most exclusive high

end department stores are considered as offering superior employment situations in terms of

environment, compensation and benefits. The attached study seeks to determine how people of color

fare in these stores.

Two key questions surround these stores.

1. Do high end department stores focus so much on locations in affluent neighborhoods that they limit

access that nonwhite workers might have to employment there?

2. Regardless of accessibility to diverse work forces, do high end department stores maintain a diverse

work force?

Read the attached report: HIGH END DEPARTMENT STORES, THEIR ACCESS TO AND USE OF DIVERSE

LABOR MARKETS

The purpose of this research is to determine if high end department stores vary from that of other

department stores with respect to their ability to access and utilize diverse labor pools. Two research

hypotheses flow from this question,

Hypothesis 1: Access to nonwhite workers will vary by type of department store.

Hypothesis 2: Employment of nonwhite sales workers will vary by type of department store.

Department stores in the ten largest metropolitan areas were examined: New York, Los Angeles,

Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Miami, Washington, Houston, Detroit and Boston.

Questions:

 What did the research conclude?

 In your opinion what might explain these findings?