Used to be good until they sold the company - Anonymous employee Brewster Home Fashions Employee Review

Had great time working there. Really friendly environment.

In this one year, never got to experience any bad incident.

The team you’ll have for the most part will be fantastic, but they aren’t going to be carving out any support for you, you’ll just be suffering together and forming a trauma bond like no other. Other than that, I’m not sure there are any pros. At first, it looked like a decent place to work — but that was a different lifetime. Everything that made it appealing has gone straight downhill after a certain someone took the reins.

Where to even begin. Let’s start with the basics: Brewster Home Fashions merged with York Wallcoverings (check their reviews if you want a laugh). The actual CEO (not Paul Feinstein) is the same as York Wallcoverings’ — a man legendary for hopping from company to company, stirring chaos, and leaving a mess in his wake. Most of the company’s current problems trace directly back to his “leadership.” This used to be a genuinely good place to work — flexible hybrid schedules, people who cared, and a sense of sanity. That’s gone. The hybrid model (still advertised in job postings, by the way) was quietly killed off, replaced by flimsy excuses and smoke screens. Instead of just admitting, “We’re ending remote work,” management tried to sell it as a temporary return during a “system migration.” Spoiler: the migration was botched beyond belief because they didn’t allocate enough time, people, or resources. Sound familiar? Holiday bonuses? Gone.
Raises? Capped at a laughable 1–2%, even for the people doing the heavy lifting.
Morale? Dead. Buried. Six feet under and still digging. Most people I worked with shared the same sentiment — crying on the way into the building every day. Or better yet, crying inside the building. That’s the culture they’ve built. Management seems baffled as to why no one’s motivated to “lift the company by its bootstraps.” Here’s a hint: forced fun isn’t culture. No one’s feeling inspired by mandatory “socialization” meetings, food trucks, or lunchtime charades. Food trucks don’t fix resentment — especially when you’re forcing people to come in. And speaking of “fun,” over the summer they gave everyone a generous three-week notice that “summer early-out Fridays” were canceled — because apparently, that would “support customer service.” Not long after, they pulled the plug on remote work altogether, one of the biggest selling points in every job listing from 2020 through 2024. It’s 2025, and they still haven’t gotten the memo that the world changed. Then there’s the layoff circus. People are being cut left and right — some given months of notice with the charming caveat that if you leave early, you lose your severance. Others get the axe overnight, leaving entire departments completely barren. It's no wonder that the ones who CAN find new employment elsewhere are all dropping like flies. Meanwhile, they’re hiring dozens of new sales reps and adding thousands of products to their lineup. But what exactly are they supposed to sell when the company keeps eliminating the very people who create the products? Has that thought even been conjured? Logic clearly isn’t on the org chart. Oh, and about that pay? If you don’t report to a Boston location with the ZIP code 02108, you’re not getting Boston pay — even if you do Boston-level work. In fact, they’ll go one better: pay you Pennsylvania wages because York Wallcoverings is based in York, PA. And for good measure, they’ll fly you out there a few times a year for absolutely no reason. Apparently, the travel budget is endless — just don’t ask for snacks, fair pay, or holiday bonuses. Bottom line:
If you’re craving the office culture and pay scale of 1985 — complete with outdated thinking, fear-based leadership, and a side of performative “culture” events — then Brewster Home Fashions, York Wallcoverings, or the all-powerful “York Design Group” might be your dream come true. Management runs on a toxic mix of arrogance, ageism, and sexism. If that’s your jam, step right up. Everyone else: run.