The Container Store to Share Thousands of Hugs in Honor of "National We Love Our Employees Day"

COPPELL, Texas, Feb. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Container Store (R), the nation's originator and leading retailer of storage and organization products, today honors its 6,000 employees across the country by celebrating its fourth annual "National We Love Our Employees Day (TM)." In 2010, the company proclaimed February 14 as its National We Love Our Employees Day to not only celebrate its own employee-first culture, but to also encourage other companies to do so.

Today's companywide celebration includes special "warm" surprises for every employee from Long Island to Los Angeles and even the company's Swedish colleagues at elfa (R) - the company's manufacturer of its best-selling custom shelving and drawer system. Each of the retailer's wonderful employees will receive a t-shirt, hot cocoa and marshmallows along with a custom lamb's wool blanket, symbolizing thousands of hugs. Additionally, Kip Tindell, Chairman & CEO, Melissa Reiff, President, Sharon Tindell, Chief Merchandising Officer and Garrett Boone, Chairman Emeritus send the "hug-o-meter" off the charts in a fun video message to employees that posted on the company's blog, standfor.containerstore.com. In each of The Container Store's 58 locations, love songs will play throughout the day, balloons will decorate the store and customers will be encouraged to share the love by leaving "hug notes" for their favorite employees.

The Container Store is also telling customers about the love for its employees with a full-page ad in The New York Times, an ad in The Dallas Morning News, a customer email, posts on its Facebook and Twitter pages, outdoor billboard messaging and a web site homepage takeover. Customers are encouraged to visit the company's blog for related stories and to leave a "hug note" for employees for a chance to win one of 10 $100 Store More Cards.

"As an employer, we have a moral obligation to create a workplace that our employees look forward to getting out of bed and coming to each and every day," said Kip Tindell. "We've spent the last 35 years building that workplace on love. In fact, an organization built on love is more sustainable and more fun. It results in a fierce loyalty by employees, a low turnover and ultimately, happy customers, vendors and shareholders."

The Container Store attributes much of its success and an average annual compounded growth rate of 25% since its 1978 inception to its values-based business philosophies called Foundation Principles (TM). These Foundation Principles guide company business decisions keeping the company's interdependent circle of stakeholders top of mind - with employees always first.

In addition to unprecedented retail financial performance as a result of its employee-first culture, The Container Store also counts the following as accolades and differentiators:
- Recognition as an employer-of-choice on FORTUNE magazine's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For (R) " for 14 consecutive years.
- High levels of customer service delivered with a solutions-based approach.
- Low employee turnover.
- Commitment to no layoffs.
- More than 263 hours of training for first-year, full-time employees (compared to industry average of seven to 10 hours).
- Continued expansion from coast to coast with new stores planned for 2013, including Tampa, Orlando & Boca Raton, FL, Reston, VA and Palo Alto, CA.
- A "Communication is Leadership" philosophy that results in every employee receiving and/or having access to every detail of company information, including financials, real estate expansion plans and more.

About The Container Store:
The Container Store currently has 58 locations across the country and offers 10,000 time- and space-saving organization solutions. The Container Store offers free closet design services every day in its stores and online using elfa, the premiere shelving and drawer system. Visit www.containerstore.com for more information about store locations, the product collection and services offered. Fiscal year sales are expected to reach an excess of $750 million. The Container Store is privately held.

SOURCE The Container Store