Shopping
With Social Impact
By Linda Reynolds
If you like spending your money where you know a portion will support causes
you care about, consider shopping at The Children's Place, the first company
to respond to Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton's plea for funding partners.*
At a press conference
in New York City on August 12, The Children's Place announced "a major commitment to
PBS KIDS' Reading Rainbow to help ensure its availability to
all children on public television," the company said in
its press
release.
"The Children's Place
is thrilled to support PBS KIDS' Reading Rainbow,
a show that has been a benchmark in children's educational
programming for twenty years and plays an incredible role in
children's literacy development," said Ezra Dabah, CEO
of The Children's Place.
Five percent of back-to-school
denim purchases made before September 30 will be donated to
PBS KIDS' Reading Rainbow and Reading is Fundamental
(RIF). The Children's Place is also hosting a contest whose
winner will appear
in an episode of Reading Rainbow.
Support of Reading
Rainbow is just one element of ReadingUSA(TM), a national
children's literacy and community
service program launched by The Children's Place. "ReadingUSA(TM)
is one way the company can give back to the community and generate
excitement about reading and learning," said Dabah. The
program is designed to reach as many children and parents as
possible through an array of ongoing literacy projects designed
to introduce young children to literature through read-aloud
activities.
The sense of social responsibility
at The Children's Place extends to business relationships as
well. The Children's
Place requires vendors, suppliers, manufacturers, subcontractors
and agents to meet legal requirements and follow employment practices,
which are listed on the Social
Responsibility page of its website.
But what are the stores and clothing like? The
Children's Place describes itself as a retailer of high quality,
value-priced clothing and accessories for children from newborns
to ten-year-olds. The stores offer spacious, bright and airy
shopping in an atmosphere that is friendly and convenient for
children and adults, and they aim to keep their customers happy
with knowledgeable sales associates providing the best customer
service and ease of shopping.
Do customers think the
company lives up to its claims? Michele St. Martin confirmed
that her experience with
sales people and customer service has been excellent. She started
shopping at The Children's Place about three years ago and estimates
that she has purchased a quarter of her daughter's wardrobe there. "It's
a great value, and [the] appearance [of the clothing] is generally
very cute. I like TCP's trendy fashions and mix-and-match styling,
and I also enjoy their infrequent shopping specials, such as
getting a store credit for twenty-five dollars when you spend
fifty dollars."
Terry Hernon MacDonald
is another mom who has shopped The Children's Place " quite a bit" for the
past three or four years. "My children have jackets, hair
accessories, pants, blouses, sweaters and skirts from The Children's
Place. The appearance of the clothing is top-rate. The clothes
are fashionable, tasteful, colorful, and my children and I agree
on them. The clothes are also reasonably priced."
Hernon MacDonald was particularly
impressed with the sales people. "[They] are extremely helpful and
friendly without being cloying," she said. "They actually
smile." She was also attracted by the store's window display,
layout, neatness and cleanliness.
What do children think
of the clothes? St. Martin said her daughter loves her clothes
that come from The Children's
Place. Hernon MacDonald agreed, saying her children have received "several
outfits as gifts, which they put on as soon as they unwrap them."
St. Martin said it's very
important to her that The Children's Place supports Reading
Rainbow and other literacy
efforts. She makes it a point to shop there because "I like
to support companies that are socially conscious and children's
literacy is important to me."
Hernon MacDonald agreed. "I
like to know that I'm supporting a company that gives back.
If I have a choice
between shopping where the sales people are brusque, the clothing
is overpriced and often doesn't hold up well, or The Children's
Place, where the sales people greet me and actually seem to like
their jobs, where the clothing is reasonably priced, fashionable
and tasteful, and the company supports a worthy TV show like
Reading Rainbow, I'll take The Children's Place every time."
The Children's Place has more than 670 stores
in the United States and Canada. To find the store nearest you,
call 1-877-PLACE-USA or visit www.childrensplace.com, where you
can also shop online.
*For more information about Reading Rainbow's financial difficulties, read
BPO's "Reading
Rainbow Gains New Support"
Linda Reynolds is the Family Entertainment Editor at Busy Parents Online Magazine.
She shops for her son and two daughters in the Dallas area.
