Eastridge employees describe their community

By Amanda Flores, Christian Frias, Cathy Ly and Juliet Perez

Staff Writers

When you walk into the Eastridge Mall, you see a bunch of people of different age groups, from children to the elderly. You immediately smell the diverse foods the Food Court offers. You hear the music Eastridge puts on, or the sound of people conversing with each other.

Out of the 150 stores and services at Eastridge, we chose Champs, Charlotte Russe and Mainland to explain the different ways employees feel connected to their community.

When asked how he feels connected to the people who come into his store, Zach Hill from Champs said that some people just go in there to look at shoes, but when they’re interested in buying, he believes customer service is “always a No. 1 thing.” He tries to ask them how they’re doing and what they’re looking for in order for him to further assist the customer.

The average age group that shops at Champs is from 12 years old to 60 years old. Hill recalled a time a middle schooler was “running cross country from Chaboya – eleven years old wearing a size 12 – and I was like woah!¨

Mainland Manager Manny Perez, when asked how he feels connected to customers that walk into Mainland, said, ¨I guess it would be a lot of the skateboarding, like the culture of the stuff that we sell, the shoes – everything that we sell here is stuff that I am into, so a lot of people that shop here are into the same thing, so it’s already like a small connection there.¨

At Charlotte Russe, Celyne Carlet explained how she builds relationships with people who come in and buy products: ¨You definitely build a relationship, especially those who ask you questions about outfits – you find out if they are picking an outfit for a date or a vacation, and you also get to help them pick accessories, so you become a personal stylist for them.”

Eastridge employees definitely feel a connection toward customers, whether they’re in the store just to look or to actually buy something.

Here is our video on the community at Eastridge: