The Container Store Declares February 14 National 'We Love Our Employees Day'

DALLAS, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Container Store, the nation's originator and leading retailer of storage and organization products, surprises its 4000 employees across the country by declaring today as "National We Love Our Employees Day." Today and in the coming week, The Container Store's employees will be treated to special celebrations and recognition at the retailer's stores, home office and distribution center.

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert proclaims and State Representative Carol Kent offers a resolution recognizing today as "The Container Store's National We Love Our Employees Day" in honor of the retailer's commitment to its employee-first culture.  Running a business with this culture at its helm proves that doing good is good for business for The Container Store.  The retailer has:

• Turnover of less than 10% (compared to retail industry average of more than 100%)
• Strong financial performance including a double digit, year-after-year compounded growth rate
• Continued expansion from coast to coast adding more than 300 jobs in the past 24 months
• National recognition as an employer-of-choice driving such interest that only 3% of applicants are hired into the organization
• Remained committed to no layoffs

"While we appreciate and recognize our employees' every day of the year, we thought it fun on this Valentine's Day to publicly thank them for their diligence, positive attitude, perseverance and commitment to helping our customers and ensuring our special company remains strong despite a tough economy," said Kip Tindell, The Container Store's Chairman and CEO.  "We also encourage other companies to adopt Feb. 14 as a day to recognize their own employees' contributions and successes."  

The Container Store attributes its success to its values-based business philosophies focused on its entire interdependent group of stakeholders, beginning with employees and also including its vendors, community, customers and shareholders.  In doing so, the retailer finds employees take better care of customers, which ultimately ensures a prosperous bottom line even in a challenging economy.  This approach is a departure from what many other companies practice, yet it's been at the heart of The Container Store's since 1978.  

"Since the company started more than 30 years ago, we've strived for excellence, to be special, to be different and to be more than just another retail store.  That has always meant putting our employees first and in doing that, they truly take care of the customer," continued Tindell.  

The Container Store is supporting its "National We Love Our Employees Day" with ads in The New York Times and The Dallas Morning News (the retailer's hometown paper), customer emails, a social media campaign, outdoor and online messaging, in-store signage and messaging through the stores' music system.

About The Container Store (TCS)

Visit <http://www.containerstore.com/> for more information about store locations, product collection and services offered.  The retailer has been named to FORTUNE magazine's annual list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" for the past 11 years.  Sales for fiscal year 2009 are projected at more than a half a billion.  TCS is privately held.

SOURCE The Container Store