Here are The Container Store “Foundation Principles” as seen on their website:

Reference: http://standfor.containerstore.com/our-foundation-principles/

Our Foundation Principles

Not only was The Container Store built on great products, but it was structured around some very basic and fundamental values and business philosophies about treating employees, customers and vendors with respect and dignity – we call them our Foundation Principles^TM.

They were formalized in 1988, when we opened our Houston store (our first outside of Dallas). That store made us take a look at our business a little harder. From the day we opened the doors, we did three times more business than we had ever experienced at any of our other stores, which became quite overwhelming to our employees. We already had a 10-year-old company with strong values and culture; however, communicating this to an entire store of new employees, most who never had been exposed to our stores or our way of doing business, was quite a challenge.

Kip (Chairman and CEO) struggled with how to clearly communicate our culture so that all the employees in the Houston store would act and make decisions using the same set of values and knowledge as the employees in the rest of the company.

So Kip referred back to a file he had started many years ago called his “philosophy epistle file” where he’d put various anecdotes, musings and philosophical phrases that he admired. During his time in school, the things in the file were on a philosophical level and as he started college, they took more of a business slant. He chose many examples to communicate the message that no matter how big the company became, our guiding principles and values would stay the same and over the years these were condensed into our Foundation Principles™.

By understanding and supporting these principles and philosophical guidelines, we can all respond in unison to similar circumstances. In other words, we act as a unit, all working in the same direction toward the same goal. Retail is far, far too situational to attempt to achieve a concerted effort through inflexible rules and policies.

So, instead of using the typical phone-book-sized retail procedural manual to guide our decision making, we use these Foundation Principles™ to keep us on track, focused and fulfilled as employees. With this combination of values-driven business philosophies and a one-of-a-kind product selection, The Container Store’s goal is to become the best retail store in America.

1 Great Person = 3 Good People

“1 Equals 3″ is our hiring philosophy. We have to be selective when interviewing potential employees because of the brand promise we’ve made to our customers to provide exceptional customer service.

We hire only about 3% of all who apply. If you indeed believe that with one great employee, you get three times the productivity of a good employee, you can afford to extensively train them and communicate to them, empower them and pay them 50 to 100% more than what other retailers might pay them.

Our 1=3 employees have tremendous tenure with the company. They feel like owners of the company and strive to do what’s right for each other and our customers every single day.

It’s a win-win-win. Employees win because they’re getting paid twice as much… and what a delight for the entire team to work alongside other great people! The company wins because it gets three times the productivity at two times the payroll cost. But most importantly, customers win with extraordinary service!

Fill the Other Guy’s Basket to the Brim

This statement from Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, has become the Golden Rule of our business. With this sentiment guiding us, The Container Store has been successful in creatively crafting mutually beneficial relationships with our vendors by doing everything possible to truly “fill their baskets to the brim.” We know that in return, our business and our bottom line will benefit as well.

These relationships are limited only by imagination and determination. It’s all of the little things and the big things that we can do for and with our vendors to help them succeed.

There are too few people who believe you can build your organization this way and be successful. Some businesspeople think the JR Ewing way from the TV show Dallas, is how to do it. They believe you have to “burn” the other party in order to succeed. We don’t believe that. We know that crafting mutually beneficial relationships with our business partners works, and it has been a successful approach for our business since the very beginning.

Hear for yourself what our vendors have to say about working with The Container Store!

Man In The Desert Selling

This is our selling philosophy and we use it to illustrate how we astonish our customers by exceeding their expectations.

Imagine a man lost in the desert. He’s been wandering for weeks. He stumbles across an oasis, where he’s offered a glass of water, because surely he must be thirsty. But if you stop to think about what he’s experienced and what his needs really are, you know that he needs more than just water. He needs food, a comfortable place to sleep, a phone to call his wife and family, maybe a pair of shoes and a hat to screen the sun’s rays.

When a customer comes to our store looking for shoe storage, for example, we equate her to a “Man in a Desert,” in desperate need of a complete solution. We start asking questions about what her needs are. “How many shoes do you have?” “If shoes are a big problem for you, how does the rest of the closet function?” By anticipating her needs, we know that she needs an organization plan — a complete solution — for her entire closet.

Most retailers are pleased with helping her find a shoe rack — that glass of water — but not at The Container Store. We don’t just stop with the obvious. Providing our customers with a complete solution through our Man in the Desert selling philosophy has been key to achieving one of our main goals of having our customers dancing in their organized closet, pantry, home office, etc., because they are so delighted and thrilled with the complete solution we provided them.

Communication IS Leadership

We believe that Communication IS Leadership — they are one and the same.

The Container Store knows the importance of executing every day, consistent, reliable, predictable, effective, thoughtful, compassionate and yes even courteous communication. It’s hard, but we feel passionate that it is critical in developing and growing our business successfully.

We simply want everyone in our company to know everything! We know that that is probably not possible, but we work harder at achieving that than any other company. And because we work so hard at it, we’ll get closer at achieving that goal than any other company. Out of respect, the only thing we don’t talk about is individual compensation.

Unlike other companies, we don’t work on a “need to know” basis, but rather we ask ourselves, “Who will benefit from having this information? Who needs this communication to help them do their job better and to help them be the best employee, the best leader, the best person they can be?” This type of “whole brained” approach to our business, this 360-degree thinking and execution, is one of the many key differentiators to business.

We know that some of the information we share could possibly fall into competitors’ hands, but we believe that the advantages of our open, honest, transparent and thorough execution to communication far outweighs the “possible” disadvantages. And it’s really consistent with our belief in valuing our employees, valuing each other, making sure we all feel appreciated, included, empowered and receive the information and training we need to be successful in our roles at The Container Store.

Intuition Does Not Come to An Unprepared Mind

This is our training philosophy and demonstrates how committed we are in arming our employees with the knowledge to provide the best possible service to our customers.

Albert Einstein credited his theory of relativity to a flash of intuition. He was riding on a train and as he watched another train pull past, he felt as if he were moving backwards, an experience most of us have had. However, unlike the rest of us, he suddenly conceived the theory of relativity. Einstein never could have had this insight if he hadn’t spent his whole life studying physics and mathematics.

We want our employees to use their intuition — to anticipate the needs of our customers and recommend product solutions. We are the experts and must ensure our customers feel more than taken care of by us. But we know that in order to help employees do this, we have to provide them with the information — the training — to know how best to apply their intuition.

This is why we have a diligent commitment to training. All full-time employees receive more than 240 hours of training in their first year; part-time employees receive about 150 hours of training in their first year. And that’s compared to retail industry average of about eight hours of training.

The Best SELECTION, SERVICE, & PRICING in Our Market Area

Conventional wisdom says that price is mutually exclusive of service and selection. It’s hard for most retailers to offer low pricing and provide exceptional service. A few great retailers have achieved a combination of the best selection and the best service. To add the best price to that equation is generally unheard of, but The Container Store diligently achieves all three simultaneously with this philosophy.

We provide the best selection of multifunctional, high-quality products you can find — no one focuses solely on storage and organization products like we do. Modular, component systems like elfa, Metro^® Commercial Shelving and commercial products like Nalgene bottles are all examples of what we call “selling the hard stuff.” And we have highly trained, knowledgeable and caring employees to assist our customers and provide exceptional customer service.

Our Buyers work diligently with our vendors on pricing that is better or equal to that which other retailers receive. Not all of the products we sell are exactly like what other retailers offer. In the case of “look-alike” products, ours are made of higher quality materials and will last much longer. Our goal is to provide the best products, at the best price that actually exceed a customer’s expectations so that hopefully, just hopefully, she’ll do a little dance each time she uses it. And then she’ll tell all her friends about how great it is, how it helps her stay organized, save time…and how she can’t imagine what her life was like before it. That’s a powerful testimony, and that’s a product — and an experience — that transcends value for our customers.

Air of Excitement

Three steps in the door and you can tell whether or not a retail store has it. And we know that The Container Store has it! “Air of Excitement” is our employees’ smiling faces and genuine concern for customers’ needs. It’s the bright, visual, innovative and conversation-provoking products we sell. It’s our clean, well-organized shelves. It’s music that is pleasant and speaks to our customers.

In retail, customers can sense when employees are having fun, when they love their jobs and are excited about helping customers. It’s an attitude that’s contagious and makes customers want to spend more time in our stores. A trip to The Container Store is a one-of-a-kind shopping experience that involves our people, our products and our persistence for astonishing the customer. You have to see it to believe it!