The continued strength of this location is a testament to his longevity as well as his tenacity and out-of-the-box thinking. For example, after noticing a decline in online sales, he and his team visited nearby assisted living residences, where they taught staff how to set up the store’s app for residents. The outreach resulted in new online sales and an overall 0.26% sales lift.

In addition to making it easier for people to shop at the store he manages, Welch has taken steps to improve the community at large. He is the campaign leader for “Team Welch” for the United Way of Northeast Louisiana, serves on the board of The Living Well Foundation and is an executive on the local Chamber of Commerce. He received a community leadership award from the mayor of West Monroe for his community service efforts.

Welch’s positive ideas and influence extend to his internal team. Using weekly meeting with team leaders, group chats, email groups and on-on-one meetings, he adheres to an open door policy. He strives to provide opportunities for partners with diverse backgrounds and developed cross-training initiatives to ensure efficiencies across the store. Following a historic ice storm in 2021, Welch personally transported partners from their homes to work.

Lifting both people and the bottom line led Welch to earn a “Store Director of the Year” award for his division. You might say he had it in the bag from his first days on the job as a young associate.

“To improve customer service, Brandon placed an in-store comment box labeled, ‘What can we do better?’ at the cash office. He checked it weekly and addressed each request, ranging from an extra mobile riding cart, umbrellas in the foyer for clerks to use walking customers to their cars, water pallets at the entrance for clerks to pick up for customers upon check out, new hand-scanners for faster check-out, and extra chairs for the pharmacy waiting area.”