ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 20, 1996 TAG: 9607220019
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG (AP)
SOURCE: NICOLE M. OSTROW The News & Advance
OFFICIALS at the apparel company, ranked 15th in catalog sales, say the Lynchburg work force has done everything to make them feel welcome.
Jean Kitts had been a nursery school teacher for seven years when she started working part time for a new catalog company, taking phone orders.
In September, that company - J. Crew - will mark a decade of operation in Lynchburg. Kitts is one of the employees who have been there the whole time.
When she first started, there were about 125 people employed at J. Crew; now the company employs about 1,150. A year after she started with the company, Kitts quit her nursery school job to work full time because she liked her job and the benefits.
``The company really listens to the associates; they really listen to our suggestions,'' said Kitts, who now works as an auditor in support services.
The private company operates a catalog and distribution center inside a 262,000-square-foot building in the Greenstone Commercial Center.
The plant also has a telemarketing department handling orders for J. Crew and Clifford & Wills, the company's women's clothing catalog.
The company also operates a chain of outlet stores.
In addition to its high-profile clients - the company has provided clothing for the cast of the television show ``Home Improvement,'' Madonna, Burt Reynolds and President Clinton's entire inauguration committee - the company also reaches millions of regular people.
Telemarketers at the Lynchburg plant, combined with those at a plant in Asheville, N.C., designed to handle overflow calls from Lynchburg, answer millions of calls each day, said telemarketing manager Sharon Johnston.
The majority of callers are between the ages of 22 and 44. Thirty percent of the calls are from college students.
According to a listing by the trade publication ``Catalog Age 100,'' the company is ranked 15th in catalog sales in the country, behind Land's End and L.L. Bean, the only other apparel catalogs listed in the top 20.
In 1993, J. Crew made $625 million in catalog sales; in 1994, $575 million. In 1994, Land's End generated $990 million in catalog sales and L.L. Bean made $848 million.
During the holiday season, when sales at J. Crew increase 35 percent to 40 percent, the work force more than doubles.
``The overall growth of the company is overwhelming,'' said supervisor Beth Morton, who started out in order consulting on the telephone and is now the support services manager and oversees 30 other employees.
It is people like Kitts, Johnston and Morton that drew the New York-based company to central Virginia.
J. Crew spokesman John Keith said J. Crew located a plant in Lynchburg because of the area's work force.
``The people in the area were very aggressive and very positive to get us to come here,'' Keith said.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. J. Crew shipping department employees Thurman Davisby CNB(from left), Troy Ivory and Renee Alvis sort packages at the
Lynchburg plant, which employs about 1,150.