sales associate

sales leader

assistant manager

retail assistant manager

sales lead

Express

Express overall was a nice company to work for! Had decent benefits and good discounts. The specific location I worked at (Memorial City) had great staff, very friendly. 
The job itself was very easy; from being on the sales floor greeting customers, to being at the register checking out items. I circulated through 4 different positions while being at express over roughly 2 years. Started off as a sales associate and quickly became a “stylist”, which did include a small promotion. The stylist position however was being “tested” you could say. Which we were never noticed about. So we (3 of us employees) all agreed to take the stylist positions. About 1-2 months later we come into work with no warning what so ever and are essentially let go from the company. Basically the “stylist position” wasn’t working how they thought it would to help the company. So the position was being terminated. Now mind you, they had some kind of plan to re absorb those employees, but the principle at hand rubbed me the wrong way. They knew what was coming and no one was told anything. The other 2 employees that were stylist simply left the company. I however was “ re absorb” as the operations expert (incoming stock management essentially). I actually loved this position! I loved the take charge aspect. I loved that it gave me more responsibility and more tasks. I’m a tasker, I like to go to work and get things done. Being a sales associate at the register or on the floor… during slow seasons when you see 3 customers in 3 hours…it’s draining. I was taking in boxes of shipment, opening them up, making sure they were properly processed and then organizing and putting away clothes in a proper manner. Loved this position!!! Now a few months later I had to take another position. Company was going through changes and asked me to step up to be a sales lead (low level manager). I was eager to work my way up the company,  I genuinely was looking into a career here for the long wrong, as the manager would also frequently encourage me saying “you could absolutely build a career here”. Loved the management position, loved taking on even more tasks and responsibilities!! 
Come about 5-6 months later , I got pregnant. About 1 week after announcing I was pregnant (I’m about 8 weeks pregnant) I was brought in to talk with management. They explained how they believed me going back to the operations expert position would be better for me as I’m now pregnant. Management said it would be more convenient for me for multiple reasons: 
1) time ~ if I was having a rough morning with sickness it would be okay for me to be a couple mins late without worry, the ops expert isn’t needed to open the store. Perfect. 
2) silly but.. the bathroom! lol I was right next to the bathroom so when I was needing to rush to take care of that morning sickness.. perfect! 
3) less stress. Being in the back stock room and working on shipment is absolutely less stressful than being out on the floor with customers. Perfect 
I accepted the position with no issues. I thought to myself absolutely I agree, it seems like being the operations expert and working in the back while growing a baby would be best! 
Wrong. I was essentially played out of my Sales lead position so that the company wouldn’t have to worry about finding a replacement when my maternity leave came. 
Management lied to my face. After I accepted my old position of operations expert , and essentially gave up my sales Lead position, I was stuck ON THE CASH REGISTER for the entire 9 months. 
I was standing at the register for 5+ hours a day, walking around the front trying to organize. Not much to organize tho when 3 customers have been in the store since opening. Mind you I was given a chair and allowed to sit, but my job went from feeling full filling and joyous to dreadful. Sitting at the register with not a soul in sight. 
I was RARELY allowed in the back to work on shipment. My title is operations expert. But I’m not allowed to do it. 
Long story short, I was told over and over again that I can’t do the job bc it’s too physically demanding and I’m pregnant. 
I see now what happened. Management did not want to have to replace me when I took maternity leave, but they still also needed their full time employees. 
So I was put back into the operations expert title, but solely to keep that full time position filled. I wasn’t actually the operations expert, I was the cashier. Lead cashier for 9 months. 
And they knew that if I knew I was going to be essentially going back to a sales associate, I would have said no, or left the company. So she lied and said I could get the job that I love back…then she looked me in my eyes and told me I couldn’t do that job anymore, after I already accepted it and let go of the management position. 
That manager has since left express, and I didn’t take my grievances up with the new manager. 
I don’t appreciate the sneaky tricks that were played on me. 


Express was my first job, I got lucky that Express was one of my personal favorite places to shop, so when it came to the interview, the store manager saw my love for fashion and gave me a chance at being my first retail job which is pretty uncommon for Express. First I will talk about all of the reasons why I loved this job. The biggest factor was that I got along with the store manager therefore we had good communication and she helped me grow my knowledge of customer service and even fashion. The more I grew the more challenges she gave me to help me continue to grow. I also got a lot of hours for being a part-time sales associate. I was also one of the only associates that would pick up shifts and I was usually the first person the managers would call if someone else was sick. There are so many good things about this job I can’t explain everything. The bad part of the job was some of the coworkers. One of the assistant managers treated me like trash for the first three months I worked there, she quite literally acted like I wasn’t a human being, she didn’t start to come around to liking me until I developed a friendship with one of the shift leads. This assistant manager actually told the  shift lead that she didn’t like me solely because I got along with the store manager and she did not...the assistant manager was just very immature, she didn’t think that it was possible for me to work well with the store manager and be friends with others in management. In the beginning there was also a group of girls who had a little clique, they had pretty much all worked there for about two years, they started with a different store manager and they hated the new store manager (the only store manager I ever had). This lead to me being bullied by them, they would take advantage of the fact that I was a hard worker and I ended up doing a lot of extra work because these girls would just sit around and talk not doing their job. The end of my time at express actually became apparent to me 6 months before I quit. I asked 6 months in advance to have two weeks around Christmas off because my entire family was traveling to New York. Even though I asked for the time so early and offered to work literally any and every other holiday, she told me that she would never approve my time off. So in perspective, I would have been home ALONE for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all so that she could schedule me for two or three shifts. So I decided to quit a couple weeks into November, I chose that time because I would have had to work all of thanksgiving week including Black Friday, I totally would have, but I had finals three days after Black Friday and knew I needed the time to study especially because I would have been quitting the second week of December anyways. I told my managers that I needed a couple of months to get my school situation figured out (I was in the middle of applying to nursing school) and that I would like to come back to the company in February or March, well that was the plan and my store manager screwed it up for me. Before I quit, I bought a gift card with my discount so that I would technically be able to use my discount to buy a few more things, EVERY MANAGER TOLD ME TO DO THIS!!! I did not use this gift card until after my official last day that I had written in my two weeks notice. I used the card a couple days after my official last day, but my store manager screwed me because she didn’t mark me as no longer being apart of the company until an entire week after my last day. So the auditing manager for the district called the store and told them if I was still working there I needed to be fired and that I need to be put on the do not rehire list. My store manager didn’t even try to explain to him that the situation was not my fault, it was hers. So when I went to come back as a rehire I found out I was black balled from the company, so I will never be able to work at any Express clothing stores again...HUGE let down and it still bums me out that I can’t ever go back to the company that I loved!

So below will be my personal opinion and my personal experience. I hope it can be helpful and if not maybe it can just give you a good laugh. I worked here at Express in Friendly Center (Greensboro) for quite a while before I finally found something that I actually went to school for. They sent me home a lot. The salary was terrible for the amount of work I had to do in such a short amount of time. Sometimes they would be like, “do this quickly so you can leave. We need to cut hours.” So I’d be rushing around working twice as hard as everyone else just to bring home two hours worth of pay. The gossip between associates was really annoying and I don’t think anyone really liked ANYONE to tell you the truth. When I first started I had one day of training. They refused to train me on the register for 6 months “because that would distract me from my actual job” until the only manager I liked stepped up and finally did so. As you can see- no opportunity to move up if you don’t know how to work a register which I didn’t. It was my first retail job. On slow days the management would stand around and do absolutely nothing. They’d be on their phones and whatnot while the associates were made to refold things that didn’t even need redoing. It was a very micromanaged environment which is fine if you’re going to practice what you preach. In my opinion there were way too many managers there. It was a small store with like 4 managers and NO full time associates. So if you’re thinking of working there long term, the only way is to become a manager. The place I work at’s STARTING pay is $4 more than a part time manager’s at Express so just don’t if you want a stable lifestyle. Because at least at Greensboro they will send you home and cut your hours if they don’t like how you do things or if you stand up for your rights. And don’t even try standing up for yourself if you get accused of something you didn’t do because to them you did it and that’s that. I remember I got accused of doing the shipment wrong all the time but I was in fact doing it correctly. I was barely scheduled for shipment and it doesn’t take much effort to look and see when it’s being done wrong but hey, I’m just glad I finally got to leave. Another really annoying thing was the online ordering process. If you went around and searched the store from every angle, and that shirt the person ordered isn’t there- it’s not out of stock. It’s your fault it’s not there. Period. The way management acted when ship from store associates couldn’t find an item was unreasonable. There were many times people got accused of just not wanting to look hard enough by the district manager and that was really annoying as well because they even tried to find it. You’d think that when they tried to find an out of stock item and didn’t see it, they’d go “oh wow ok so it’s really out of stock.” Nope! They just said nonsense like “is there a reason you can’t find this item. Is it really out of stock or is there another reason...???” And I mean all of this sounds stupid to rant about but when you work somewhere you don’t want to go through that mess everyday when it’s a low paying part time job, and especially when you know you didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. It’s good for college kids like myself (at the time) who need flexible hours and who don’t mind if they only make gas money every two weeks. I just don’t agree with the company in general and its benefits. It is not good to its part time employees at all. Like I said this is my personal opinion and experience but other locations may be much better, just not this one.

The overall experience was disappointing and the expectations were over-the-top.  The business expects their employees to strictly follow their "formal" work attire policies to represent the merchandise they sell.  They will discourage wearing visible brands of other businesses, which is understandable.  However, if employees lack such attire in a short duration of time right after starting the job, managers will get on their case, even suggesting constantly to part-time Sales Associates who are only scheduled 2-3 days a week with 3-4 hour shifts with a low pay wage to purchase EXPRESS clothes in the clearance section, which are still EXPENSIVE even with the employee discount.  You could go shopping at other stores to purchase clothes similar to EXPRESS without brands, but if you can't afford to, you're going to be hearing constant reminders from the managers.

It is beyond competitive, meaning it is difficult to persuade customers to purchase more than 1 item since their merchandise is EXPENSIVE.  EXPRESS pushes their employees to further persuade customers to purchase a second item since they believe their promotions are good deals, which customers find it laughable.  The store is rarely visited by wealthy patrons, many tourists, and the common browsers.  You're going to hear the constant "that's ridiculous, why is it so expensive, can you adjust the price, do you price match" and "I can get a better deal for a cheaper price" responses.

On slow days, managers will cut shifts, which ends up being the Sales Associates who, as stated before, only receive 3-4 hour shifts.  Managers will not hesitate to cut shifts even right after Sales Associates work the first hour of their shifts, which is unfortunate for those who commute far.  If an part-time employee cannot make it to their scheduled shifts due to emergencies, having to work another job that conflicts the schedule, or etc., they will be expecting an unhappy manager.  First of all, the store has a fair amount of employees to keep business going when it's busy.  One or two employees unable to work would not affect the work flow.  Second of all, part-timers receiving short shifts who get their shifts cut does not affect the work flow either.  Third, most days are SLOW at the store besides the weekend.  Finally, a manager should not shame employees into believing they had caused inconveniences for other employees by unable to work especially if there were EMERGENCIES with a doctor's note/statements.

Communications between employees are mainly done by walkie-talkies.  If employees were to accidentally talk over each other, they express their irritation for every employee to hear on the walkie-talkies.

As for the possibility of being promoted to higher positions in the future? Good luck, you're going to have to compete with other more than 8-10 employees and/or if mangers decide to leave the business.

The only upside I had from this job was interacting with customers who considered on purchasing expensive wear.  They are the ones who will gladly follow/rely on the employee's suggestions on how to appear presentable for important events or special occasions (birthdays, conference dinners, first impressions on dates, and etc).

EXPRESS is pretty par for the course with retail companies when it comes to how it is working for them and how they take care of their employees. Which is subpar for how they think they are. They hire from outside instead of promoting from within because they don't like to take the time to train anyone at any level. New associates are expected to learn on the job, but then get scolded or scoffed at if they don't do something right. Managers get a decent amount of training but it's very obvious from within the company they'd rather hire someone from outside the company that has been a manager than promote someone who has shown dedication and passion for the company. 

A typical day at work for someone good at their job means doing everyone else's job as well as your own. 

One of the struggles with EXPRESS is that they aren't willing to pay very well for anyone other than salary-positions. Which doesn't help them with recruiting and retaining talent. For associates, they rarely start anyone above minimum wage, which decreases the quality of associate because the good ones know that they're worth more than $7.25/hour. They do yearly reviews that will only be a 25 cent pay raise, even if you do an excellent job for the whole year. The only way to get a significant raise is to demand it or to get a better position (and even then you still have to demand it because better positions such as advanced cashier and stylists aren't guaranteed a pay raise despite being given more responsibilities). 

Given the higher quality and price of the clothes, it usually brings in a higher level clientele, and they train the employees in that way as well. I've always felt like we treat our customers like we work on commission, but we don't get commission. Customer Service is the highest priority at EXPRESS, and I (along with most good EXPRESS employees) often get asked by customers if I make commission so they can make sure to let the cashier know who helped them. I think that transitioning to a commission based pay would help the company recruit and retain better talent as well as drive sales and create a better sales environment for driven associates. But they only give rewards for good sales numbers to upper management for the stores, which doesn't help motivate the other employees, unless those managers then give rewards for sales too. 

All of that aside, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed most of the 6 years I have worked for the company. I've met some excellent team members and managers, I've gained a lot of experience as a salesperson and as a team manager. 

The hardest part of the job as a manager of course is balancing helping the customer as much as possible while not wanting to contradict company policy, especially if an associate just explained company policy and the customer asked to speak to the manager anyway to get what they want. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was the family environment you build with your coworkers and customers every time you go to work. It never fails that I will find something to make me laugh and smile at least once during every shift. Plus I love the clothes. It's 90% of what I own.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Friendly coworkers & customers

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
We are required to take exams each month that ask us questions about the different types of materials that go into making different clothing that are in style for that month.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very friendly coworkers and great management. There were mostly college students such as myself around my age working at Express. Your managers want to see you succeed and management in general respects their employees. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There is no dress code but dress to impress. Express offers an employee discount of 50% off so use this discount to pick an outfit you would feel most confident in and look the most presentable in. From my experience your outfit can also help inspire a customer for what they are looking for if they’re just shopping around without an outfit in mind. You start the day by clocking in using one of the employee iPhones known as “mobiles”. This iPhone can be used to check for sizes, fulfill online shipping orders, or even be used as a point of sale device and even has a credit card reader installed on the back of it to complete sales. This is your primary tool. 

Next you straighten up the clothing around the store to make it look presentable and attractive for the customer. When a customer walks in you great them with a smile. Welcome them in, ask them what they are looking for. Educate them on the item they are looking for (quality, material, theme, sizes, colors, style), reassure them on their choices. Then you direct them either to a dressing room or the registers to complete the sale. 

The entire store works as a team to help pick outfits for the customers when it is busy and when it is not busy you are divided into teams to accomplish tasks. One group or person is responsible for returning clothing left in the dressing rooms or customer returns back to the floor. Another group or person is responsible for looking around the store for items needed to be shipped for online orders. One group or person is responsible for straightening, folding, and or rearranging clothes on the floor for presentation. However, the moment a customer walks in you stop what you are doing and greet them. 

At some point you will take your break depending on how long you work this can be anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes or longer. At the end of the day you close the registers and complete numbers. You fix up the store and return any clothing back to its original spot that is out of place. You grab one of the stores’s mobile devices and clock out the same way you clocked in. This is a typical work day at Express.

Express is a very operations based retail job.  I say this, because even as an associate, It’s a very operations focused a job.  This is not necessarily a bad thing if your sm is good at scheduling and delegating.  We get quite a bit of shipment and in the retail store I worked at there were quite a few online orders.  The big part about this company for me is the brand and the product.  A lot of our clothing has special functions, such as temperature control chinos and machine, washable suits.  You will definitely fall in love with the clothing and the discounts.  I really do enjoy a lot of the customers as well, it’s really fun fitting people for their first ever suit.

The company encourages a lot of collaboration, regardless of peoples positions in the store. I was a sales associate for about two weeks and still felt like my ideas and input were being appreciated.  That is a big part of retention at this company.

I worked at two different stores. One of the stores had a really awesome awesome sm and dm who taught me everything I know about retail.  Literally, the best boss I ever had.  

The other store had a boss that got fired within two months of me working there.  The entire time I felt like I was doing the job of a store manager as an assistant manager, and my pay was not increasing.  The way that upper management handled it was implying that everyone was going to be in a really good spot once that boss left, so we would stick around through the craziness, and then completely closed the door on conversations about raises and promotions, and wanted everyone to kind of move on after a big HR investigation that affected a lot of people.  I think upper management had a lot to deal with and frankly, my bosses should’ve gotten more support than they were getting as well.  Even though I don’t agree with some of the way, they handled things, I can tell that they didn’t really have a lot of power to fix certain issues.

It’s definitely a great brand that I have a lot of passion for, but the company as a whole, is not greater than the sum of its parts.  There’s some really great people and there’s really not so great people.

A typical day at work, is ringing up customers, helping them with paring clothing that they are interested in, or having them try something they would never think of on, in-turn boosting there confidence in knowing they are or can be more versatile in the clothing they ware. Also if we don't have something on the floor they want, going above and beyond to see if we have it in stock. If by chance we don't have it in back stock, then i would give them the option of ordering on-line (free of shipping) and informing customers about the Express rewards program, as well as offering them discounts thew e-mail and more discounts by applying and getting approved on a Express credit card. For all military personal, informing them that Express offers a discount on all persons that have a military card.

While working at Express i have learned how to connect with customers on a personal yet professional level. Also how to promote products with-out pressuring customers, I have also learned how to provide a exceptional customer service experience by going above and beyond 100% for each and every customer.

I enjoy working with the management of Express, every one is fair and kind and non judgmental. The management truly cares and respects all employees and it show's. Express has a open door policy to which we can always express are selves about any situation, big or small. and they do a amazing job when it come to communication.

My co-workers with Express are all amazing and we all look out for each other, we work hard to make each other better at what we do. i can honestly say we all get along and there has never been conflict with any of my co-workers. They are always willing to switch shifts or one another if needed, and its never a issue. my co-workers are honestly really great people!     

I would say the hardest part of the job is getting customers to apply for Express credit, and id say it's due to the economy, however, we always keep them educated on the benefits that comes with having a Express credit card. and eventually they come back and end up applying (persistence is key, In a non pressuring way)

The most enjoyable part about working at Express is meeting new people, working with a AMAZING management team, Also working with my co-workers on a daily basis. Helping customers build there confidence and fell better about who they are and how they look. (sometimes with people that's all they need to make a huge difference in there lives!)

I was hired part time along with about 20 other people. Most quit extremely quickly. Here is why. After being hired I only came in for 'training' a few times over the course of a month or so. Then I was put on an on call schedule. On call for them meant I was given hours and then had to call them an hour beforehand to see if I was needed. It would take several phone calls to get the right person available to tell me if I had to come in. I was hardly needed, though I learned very well later they were entirely understaffed. The schedule was never made on time and they often made mistakes on the schedule and scolded me for not calling or coming in.

On the chance I did come in, the job entitled the usual retail things but with 1-2 managers constantly breathing down your neck and telling you to drop what you're doing and greet every customer in the store, tell them every single promo going on, ask to take their clothing to the dressing room, and to help them find things. Only one person ever let me say all of that stuff and it was about a 10 minute speech. Everyone else seemed obviously annoyed, but the managers would consistently tell me to do this. By the time closing came nothing was done except making people annoyed and I was the only associate left, which meant I had to organize an entire store myself. While I admire their attention to detail in organizing, it was not a possible task for 1 person in a reasonable time frame. I would wind up leaving at 11pm-12am when the store had closed at about 9pm. I never had a break.

The dress code was to only wear their clothing and no jeans. I couldn't have a cell phone with me. I got yelled at for going to the bathroom despite telling a manager I was going. They wouldn't teach me to use the register, although I was supposed to.

The expectations of a new employee were through the roof. Senior employees folded some clothes slowly all day long and helped people as needed. I, however, felt like I was being made to do everything and everything to absolute perfection. I would have to redo things constantly even though they were already done better than other employees.

I suspected stealing, for valid and observed reasons, among a couple employees but it would not be looked into.

Very unfair situation and treatment. Co-workers were upbeat and fairly nice, but there was no comradery. Managers were the same, but were so chaotic and disorganized that all of the above happened.

The most senior associate had worked there for about 2 years and had seen no advancement in sight and seemed to still lack training- probably due to the managers' failure.

I’m currently still a part time employee and to be truth full. Working at Express has some perks of employment skills. I’ll start with the pros first. The company’s expectations really challenge your work ethics to the greatest. Accelerating your work skill will help you translate anywhere else. It builds great leadership as you work your way up the slt pyramid. The negative aspect of working with this company is  that it does not invest in its employees! Their expectations standards are set at a high somewhat impossible bar that becomes challenging. They give minimum hours and expect you to do twice as much in a minute than what actually is humanly possible to complete. This is a brand that has yet establish some notoriety or and popularity amongst the other successful fashion brands in this industry. Thus their priority shifts in building a base of customers first. The department of home office, customer service, and tech solutions are within third parties amongst each other that the stores get unfortunately stuck in the crossfire based off lack of communication. The company has decided to add more challenging task for the stores rather than make a system that benefits more of the work of home office so that they’re employees can actually focus on the customers. The company hold no back bone when it cones to customer service and allows their employees to be walked over by the customers who have now become loyal and entitled. The change of ceo has affected the stores setup which make it more confusing to customers. Lack of organization within the store has now become confusing to find all styles of one particular items as they now wedge millions of styles into separate small rooms in a small square footage of what the store consist. The motto has become high expectation and minimum resources. It definitely challenges you to the point of overwhelmingness. Challenges that partake in store go ignored and are  expected to be a passing UPH ecpectation. Lack of training hours are not given to help every employee keep upfloat.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 561 salaries reported	$18.62 per hour
Sales leader 360 salaries reported	$21.63 per hour
Assistant manager 112 salaries reported	$24.53 per hour
Retail assistant manager 85 salaries reported	$19.50 per hour
Sales lead 2 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour

Working at Express: Company Overview and Reviews

Express

Express Ratings

Popular jobs at Express

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected