My internship experience at Urban Outfitters
During the winter of 2020, I was granted the opportunity to work with the Urban Outfitters team in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Due to the pandemic, the nature of my internship was slightly unconventional, but I feel I was able to learn so much during my time there. Urban Outfitters is owned by URBN Inc, a multinational retail company that operates in many different regions in the word. Their headquarters are in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They own Free People, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Nuuly and BHLDN. They operate both brick and mortar stores and online. Dick Hayne started URBN back in 1976. The business started in Pennsylvania, when a few college students decided to open their own retail store across from campus. Its mission was to sell secondhand clothing, jewelry, and décor. Of course, the company now sells new items. They wanted to create a “casual cool” environment, where college students would want to hangout. From my experience at Urban, I would say the initial goal of Urban has stayed intact with their brand, which has been a key source of their success. As previously mentioned, I worked at the Minneapolis, Minnesota location. This specific store was a stand-alone store, right in the heart of Uptown. The store itself had a lot of history; It was originally an old bank. The unique nature of the building created a lot of opportunity for creative visual displays, which was one of the many responsibilities I was able to help with. During my time there, I was taught many different tasks, met a ton of unique people, and I learned so much about Urban’s culture.
Because Urban Outfitters was a stand-alone brick-and-mortar store, we had a lot of responsibilities we were required to finish daily. These tasks included, daily online order fulfillment, unpacking shipment, merchandising new product, keeping up on markdowns, all while helping customers and keeping the sales floor clean. We worked together as a team every single day, otherwise we would not have been angled to keep the store running. Obviously, some days we worked better together than others. Certain employees worked better together than others, but teamwork was crucial to a successful, productive day. I believe that everyone working at Urban was aware of the importance of teamwork, which is why everyone worked hard on a daily basis.
One of my main accomplishments during my time at Urban was a major floor move for the men’s department with the visual merchandising manager. It was very hands on experience. I had to use tools and do a lot of heavy lifting, which I never thought about prior to this experience. I also was given a lot of creative freedom with how we arranged the product on the fixtures. Overall, it was really rewarding, especially seeing it all after we were done. My second larger accomplishment was being trained on the registers, including being comfortable on my own. This was big, because Urban Outfitters typically doesn’t train seasonal employees on the registers. However, because I was a hard worker, they felt I could take on the responsibility! Lastly, the relationships I made while working there. I believe this was the greatest accomplishment, as these relationships will follow me throughout my career. All of the people at Urban are creatives interested in fashion, so they are likely to make great connections moving forward!
One aspect of Urban Outfitter’s I appreciated most was the diverse nature of the people on my team. Everyone was extremely welcoming and kind. I worked with so many different kinds of people, which I thought was really cool. All of these unique individuals brought something different to the team. All of the managers were so nice and easy to talk to. This was comforting, as I knew if I was ever in a bad situation, I could go to them. Urban Outfitters also has an open-door policy, so you can literally go all the way to corporate with issues or various problems you may have. This all contributed to a very open, welcoming culture. I also noticed the culture was laid back. Everyone was chill that worked there, so I knew I would always enjoy my time working with everyone. Overall, I really liked the culture at Urban Outfitters.
The project included in this portfolio below is a more in-depth analysis of the company. I researched their major competitors, as well as their internal strengths and weaknesses. I also analyzed trends for the coming Spring/Summer 2023, synthesizing these trends with the brand image of Urban Outfitters. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures during my time at Urban, so I couldn’t include these in my portfolio. However, the experiences I shared with the team, as well as all of the different skills and knowledge I acquired during my time there, was unforgettable. I am so thankful I was granted this opportunity and able to expand my knowledge within the retail industry.
