1. 46 I Professional Retail Store Maintenance I www.prsm.com
Founded: 1978 in Dallas, TX
Number of Stores: 58 by end of 2012
Breaking Ground: Six new stores opening in 2012
Facilities Dept.: Works on every store at least three times a year
With a one-of-a-kind inventory of storage and organization
products ranging from commercial parts bins to popcorn
tins, The Container Store first opened its doors in Dallas in
1978. Back then, the store was 1,600 square feet—perfect for
the retailer’s initial inventory. But over the last 34 years, The
Container Store has never stopped expanding. The retailer
now boasts an inventory of more than 10,000 products, and
by the end of 2012, it will have 58 stores, each one an average
of 25,000 square feet.
Bryan Walker, Store Facilities Manager
Bryan Walker, with the help of his dedicated four-
employee team, has been responsible for the maintenance
of every store location for five years. An industry veteran,
Walker took a job as a store manager for Kmart right
out of college. From there, he worked for Computer
City and Pier 1 Imports, gaining valuable experience in
construction and real estate, as well as maintenance.
This diverse background has made Walker a facilities
and maintenance expert who not only oversees day-to-
day maintenance projects—such as carpet cleaning and
installing high-efficiency lighting—but also store utilities
and full remodels. In a year, this adds up to more than
10,000 work orders.
Breaking Ground
By the end of summer, the retailer will have branched out
into the Las Vegas market, as well as opened its fourth New
York store. There’s no reason to think this steady growth will
end soon. As Walker points out, The Container Store “fits pretty
much every market. It fits Manhattan, an urban market where
space is at a premium, but it also fits suburban markets like in
Texas, where people have big homes and big closets.”
retailer profile
The Container Store
BY CHARITY BURNS
Personal Explorations
After almost 15 years in facility and maintenance,
Walker still feels “there’s always something to learn . . .
There’s always a better way, always other options.”
This enthusiasm to grow is not limited to Walker’s
work life, however. An avid traveler, the native Texan has
stamped his passport in such distant destinations as
Scandinavia and Iceland. What’s next for Walker? A trip
to Eastern Europe, he hopes: “It would be great to explore
that part of the world that was all but closed off to the
West until about 20 years ago.”