Celebrity Undercover Boss

Male announcer: This week on Undercover Boss...

- the CEO of Modell's... - Okay, great.

Announcer: America's largest family-owned

sporting goods store...

Oh, my God.

Announcer: ...poses as a contestant on a reality show about people

trying to win funding for new businesses.

- Hi, are you the contestant? - I'm the contestant.

Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Angel.

Whoa!

Announcer: By working undercover,

he'll hear the ugly truth about what his employees really think.

I'm gonna be brutally honest with you right now.

I wanna hear it.

Okay. Why treat the Connecticut stores

like the red-headed stepchild?

Most upper management and owners, they're clueless.

Announcer: What will happen in the most dramatic reveal ever?

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

- Angel, are you okay? - Oh!

Announcer: Find out next on Undercover Boss.

Undercover Boss 4x01 - Modell's Sporting Goods Original air date November 2, 2012

Announcer: Headquartered in the heart of New York City,

Modell's Sporting Goods sells athletic footwear, clothing,

and sporting equipment to more than 10 million customers,

scoring revenues of more than $600 million a year.

Thank you.

Announcer: Overseeing the 3,800 employees

that keep these stores kicking, is one man.

I'm Mitchell Modell, CEO of Modell Sporting Goods.

Modell's has been a New York based company since 1889,

founded by my great-grandfather Morris.

It started out with a push-cart on Cortland Street downtown,

catering to people that were coming off the ships.

Selling accessories, knit hats, gloves.

In the 50s and 60s, my father led us

into the sporting goods arena.

Today, Modell's Sporting Goods is the largest and oldest

family-owned sporting goods company in the country.

We operate over 154 stores in 11 states.

Modell's Sporting Goods is a major sponsor

to a variety of teams.

The New York Yankees, the New York Mets,

the Brooklyn Nets.

And when a team wins, we pride ourselves

on being first to have the team merchandise

immediately after the game.

We will have it before any other retailer.

Retail is in my blood, it's in my veins.

My father, Bill Modell, wanted to make sure

that my brother Michael and I learned every part

of the business.

We both worked every job in the company.

In 1987, my father Bill made my brother Michael and I

co-presidents.

Both: Where you gotta go? You gotta go to Mo's.

Michael and I took the business from 18 million

to 443 million.

Running the business with your brother is incredible.

It wasn't about ego.

There would always be a tremendous amount

of trust and respect with one another.

He died of Hodgkin's, leaving three young kids behind.

It's tough replacing a brother who's been your best friend.

We went to camps together, we played ball together.

I think about him every day.

Michael was always that person who was a great listener.

He always had the time and people loved him for that.

Michael was different than me as a leader because

I'm a no-nonsense guy.

So if I went a little off on the deep end,

he would bring me back and reel me back in.

What's going on?

Could you check it out and call me back, please?

Everybody in my company knows that we watch every dollar.

We're spending a lot of money. Truthfully, it's sickening.

- This is not acceptable. - No.

If it doesn't drive sales or increase profits,

then what are we doing it for?

Hello?

This year I'm planning on opening up eight to ten stores.

We're gonna surround all our competition like locusts

as we continue our aggressive expansion program.

I have five kids altogether.

Two from my first wife and three with Robin.

I'm training my sons, Matthew and Max,

who are 11 and 10 years old, to be the future co-CEOs.

Every day I teach them a business lesson,

whether it be at breakfast or whether it be at night

when I come home from work.

What's the most amount of people on a line

before we open up another register?

- Ten. - Three.

Oh.

These are the basic principles of retail.

As a matter of fact, they have business cards

that say "CEO-in-training."

Part of my job as CEO is also entertaining.

Being in the sports world, we'll go to a game.

Uh, we'll hang out with the athletes after with their wives.

- Hi, guys, how are you? - Hi, guys.

I haven't seen you in a long time.

Nice to see you.

CC, we've been having some issues at Modell's.

I decided I'm gonna go undercover.

We watch all the Undercover Bosses.

CC, I might be calling you up for some advice tonight.

I wanna see you, like, in the warehouse,

like, driving the truck or something or whatever.

CC, any advice?

Just try to disguise your voice the best you can.

Get skinnier.

That would be a problem overnight.

Shave your head.

You think that would stop people from recognizing me?

Shaved head, moustache.

How would you like having a bald husband?

You don't belong bald.

Oh, my God.

I'm going undercover because when your last name

is on the door, it puts unbelievable pressure

to make sure that our values that have been passed on

for four generations

continue to be passed on for the next hundred years.

My wife leaves me, I'll never forgive myself.

Knowing that our people know me, I plan on changing my voice

to make sure that they have absolutely no clue.

My wife is definitely leaving me.

While I'm undercover, I'll be posing as Joey Glick,

a former pizza store owner that closed up six months ago.

Throughout my undercover journey, my associates will be

tricked into thinking they're on a hosted reality show,

in which they will work alongside Joey,

and then decide whether he deserves to win the money

to start a new business.

Today we're in Bronx, New York,

in front of Modell's Sporting Goods distribution center.

The man pretending to be the host of the fake show

will keep asking questions about whether Joey deserves the money,

so my associates will have no idea

that this is secretly Undercover Boss.

Honey! Could you come here, please?

- What do you think of Joey? - I hate it.

Come here, sweetheart.

No, that's okay. You don't have to come near me.

That's perfectly fine.

Oh, my God.

- Oh, my God. - What do you think?

Love you. Be safe.

Being the CEO, I'm usually the last one to know things.

And unless you know what the customers and your associates

are feeling and experiencing, you don't have a handle on it.

And I really want to uncover things

that are being kept from me that I could help fix

and make the company a healthier company.

Today I'm in Milford, Connecticut,

and I will be working with an assistant manager.

Connecticut is a newer market for us, and Modell's

has only been here for about five years.

In this particular store,

we have been struggling with sales,

and I can't afford to have stores that are not performing

to my expectations.

We've already downsized the store once.

We cannot downsize anymore.

The last thing I want to do is have to close this store.

- Is James here? - I am James.

- Name's Joey Glick. - Nice to meet you.

I am the assistant manager of the store.

- Okay, good. - All right?

My first impression of Joe was I was picturing somebody

possibly just a little younger.

His voice threw me.

Just a little gruff.

He was hard to understand at first.

This is your main drive aisle of the store.

This is where every customer is gonna walk down.

You come in to a table and every shirt is flipped over.

Are you gonna look through the table?

It doesn't look good.

You wanna look presentable, you want those customers

to enjoy their shopping experience.

So what I want you to do...

is keep them folded.

Lay it out, give it a flip.

- Fold. Fold. - Wow.

Flip. Flip.

Flip. Flip. Tuck and fold.

No.

Try and look for the old fold. There you go.

There we go.

We got another project for you right now.

We're gonna take this mannequin and we're gonna re-do him.

So what do you want me to put on here?

Anything you want. Be creative.

I'll be back.

Jason? Oh, okay.

Okay, bye.

That guy fighting you back?

I can't get his arm in here.