Employee burnout and strss in the workplace are just a few of the myriad problems employers, managers and counselors have to deal with these days.
A lot of people, it seems, are not happy with their jobs.Then there's Gregory Gohlinghorst, owner of Gregory's Toys and Adventures. When Greg talks about his business, such concerns never come up. The word that Greg most often uses in discussing his work is one that few people associate with the old 9-to-5 grind: fun.
"I'm 44, I went bungee jumping in Logan last weekend for the first time - what a rush! I love my stores, my customers, the people I work with. I'm really enjoying life."
Interviewing Greg is a little like talking to Santa Claus - in a way, Greg is Santa Claus. His enthusiasm for the business is catching, and I find myself smiling and chuckling and having a grand old time right along with Greg.
Greg has good reason to be happy about his work. He opened a new store in the ZCMI Center Oct. 5, the fourth in a venture that began only four years ago. Greg's venture shows every sign of becoming a serious player in the toy biz, a hotly competitive industry long dominated by huge national chains such as Toys R Us, Kay Bee and Lionel Playworld.
The first Gregory's, at 6900 S. Highland Drive, was a success virtually from the start. Same for the Gregory's in Foothill Village. Greg's first venture outside Utah, a Gregory's in Albuquerque, N.M., has exceeded expectations, and he expects the new store in the ZCMI Center to be a hit as well. Next spring, a Gregory's will open in Las Vegas.
His success has not gone unnoticed. Greg has been getting calls from shopping mall developers in such diverse locales as Boise and Dallas. "We're looking (for new store sites) at Washington, Florida, all over," he said. "There are a lot of opportunities out there for Gregory's."
That might surprise some people in the toy industry, a business that traditionally lives - and often dies - on the whims of a fickle public that embraces Teddy Ruxpin and Cabbage Patch Kids one year, and Nintendo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the next. To make it even more of a nail-biter, half to three-quarters of the year's business depends on those few crucial weeks before Christmas.
Greg's secret is simple: He makes no attempt to figure out what the "hottest" toys will be for any given year. He stocks no Turtles, no Nintendos, no Barbies, no GI Joes, no guns, knives, swrods or other "let's play mayhem" toys.
Instead, he specializes in Brio, Lego, Playmobil, Breyer, Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys - classic toys that he and his customers believe stimulate kids' imaginations, creativity, sense of exploring and discovery . . . all the things important to learning in childhood.
Expensive? Maybe in the short run. Many of the toys he stocks are imported from Europe and don't come cheap, although Greg says his prices are competitive with the big chains.
In any case, he says, his customers say they are tired of laying out money for toys that are broken or discarded by noon on Christmas Day. They believe such "heirloom" toys, passed on from generation to generation, are well worth the money in both durability and "playability."
Greg knows that he could sell Barbies and Nintendos in his store, but that would mean less capital and shelf space for the developmental toys that have defined his market niche. "If I bought GI Joe, I wouldn't be able to carry every piece that Brio makes." he said. "The same with Playmobil. I don't want to carry just a third of the line, I want to carry everything in the line."
It's a formula that has built Gregory's a faithful clientele, despite the fact the store does only "image" advertising, has only one five-hour invitation-only "sale" a year and refuses to discount in an industry where price is thought to be not just the most important thing but the only thing.
Not true, says Greg. Customers value consistent pricing, along with service, a helpful sales staff, merchandise that can be examined, not sealed up in a box on a shelf two stories high, and, perhaps most of all, the unstressful ambience that is Gregory's specialty. "We have a different feeling in our store," said Greg. "We attract a different kind of customer."
Greg said he is very upbeat about the changes now going on at ZCMI Center downtown, changes that convinced him Gregory's should be there. "It's a whole new revitalization in ZCMI Center," he said. "The new Food Court (currently under construction) will be very dramatic. I think the center is really going to take off."
Greg said the company has had numerous requests from people who want to franchise a Gregory's Toys but, so far, all of the stores are company owned. "I want to see controlled growth," he said. "I want to be in control of the Gregory's philosophy."
Gregory's Toys currently employs 56 people, a number that will swell to about 90 for the Christmas season. Top executives at Gregory's include Tracy Welch, buyer, and Ilene Peacock, administrator of the three Salt Lake City stores.
Greg and his wife are divorced, but he remains close to his daughter, Angie, 14, and son Michael, 11, both of whom live in Salt Lake City.