Live. Love. Loft.

Live.  Love.  Loft.


Flash back to approximately ten months ago, and I was preparing to return to Drexel as an incoming sophomore after my first, last, and only summer vacation as a college student--that is, if working 40+ hours a week at an internship in North Carolina counts as a vacation.  After my work-filled summer, I had discovered a newfound love and appreciation for retail and working and began to consider options to carry this over part-time in Philadelphia.  Considering my options, I was interested in applying to mostly to locations convenient to campus, where I both live and attend classes.  However, I was still hesitant as to whether I could balance class and work together and if I would have to work a demanding amount of hours each week.

Luckily, I remembered I knew older girls whom worked at Loft and Gap not too far, located on Penn's campus.  I was able to contact them and ask about their experiences with the balance and how realistic it would be to manage both.  The girl who worked at Loft, an older girl in my sorority, an incoming Design and Merchandising senior at the time, and overall a role model to me, talked me through her experience.  She had began working there as a sophomore, like I would be if I applied, and had been able to balance it through sophomore and junior years, as well as co-op.  I immediately applied to Loft on 36th and Walnut Streets and heard back from them not much later.  My process included two group interviews spaced apart by a few weeks, an exciting phone call hiring me (which I still have saved on my voicemail today), and four hours of training videos (a tad less exciting).  Finally, I was on the team.

As I had mentioned before, there were two prime reasons that helped me get to Loft: wanting to work in retail and the convenient location.  Despite my exciting summer, I went in knowing that it would be a job, and more so it would be work.  Little did I ever foresee how much I would love the brand and my fellow teammates.

Flash forward--this time to present day.  I am not who I thought I would be when I began working last October.  I find myself longing to work, using it as a therapeutic getaway from schoolwork, and most ironically working in the two Center City locations often, mostly the 17th and Walnut Streets location to be specific.

It turns out that the reasons I came to Loft and the reasons I have stayed at Loft could not be more different.  When beginning my new job, I always held an optimistic attitude, but I never would have guessed that I would be itching to return to work on school breaks or nearly begging to work at two different locations multiple times in a single week.

I think it is safe to say that I "Live. Love. Loft," and I could not be luckier.