The climate is a lot more competitive now, which makes it harder. Manufacturers have a harder time staying in business, because stores are more demanding on them. It's a lot more of a squeezed environment. Also, in the last 15 years, department store mergers have eaten up individual department stores. In these new, huge conglomerates, there's not as much autonomy as there used to be.
Buyers are now number pushers.
There are buying committees, and buyers today are basically told what to do. I'll be working closely with the buyers to learn their needs, and I'll be making sure everything runs smoothly with the distribution centers, the stores, the security, the displays, etc. I was a buyer for 22 years, and now I'm trying to learn the operations end, which is something new. I'll see if I want to continue on the operations end or go back to buying. You need to be somewhat fearless.